


Family Issues

by alexdamien



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-12 03:46:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 44
Words: 34,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5651365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexdamien/pseuds/alexdamien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story about Jack's relationship with his parents and how they aren't bad people, just bad parents. This story includes slowly developing Chack. This fanfic updates on wednesdays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MannyHeatlook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MannyHeatlook/gifts).



The wu alarm activated, and Jack cursed under his breath. He had planned to run a few more tests on his latest upgrade to his jackbots, but it looked like time was against him. He turned off the alarm, checking the location on the map. He calculated he could spare a couple minutes for a small tuning before he rushed out.

The door to his lab opened "Jacob! Are you here?" called a deep male voice, and Jack froze. It was his father.

"I-I'm down here," he grabbed a rag to try and clean some of the oil from his hands. His father would be angry if he got one of his expensive suits dirty. "I'll be up in a second!"

But his father was already walking down the stairs to the lab. Jack bit his lower lip, bracing himself for whatever it was that he had done wrong. It must have been bad, if it merited a surprise visit from his father.

Mr. Lionel Jacob Spicer entered the lab with a confident stride even as he lifted an eyebrow at the bunch of electronic bits and robot parts thrown around.

"You have upgraded the basement quite a lot. Last time I saw it, you only had the big computer in the back," he said.

"Uhm, yeah a bit," said Jack, trying to remember when was the last time his father had been down to the lab, but lost count of the years. It must have been when he had first started researching robotics and his mom had let him use the basement.

His father nodded, as if lost in thought. "Are you busy?" he asked.

"No, sir."

"Good. I have a dinner party in Austria, and we can make it there if we get going now. Go get your suit."

"Oh. Sure, yeah…," Jack said, dragging his feet as he crossed the lab.

His father scoffed out a laugh. "I know you think you'll hate it, but I came to get you because there's going to be some sort of robotics guy there. I don't know anything about that, but I've heard he's pretty good. Maybe you've heard of him, his name is Robert Erlson."

That made Jack freeze in place. "Rober Erlson? The one who developed the latest latency booster for the machtron V? I tried it out and it worked like a dream until it crashed under, uhm, extreme conditions. But still, I think if I told him about my test results-"

"Jack, Austria is hours away. Suit. Now."

Jack dashed to his room, jumping the steps two at a time. He opened the door to his closet that wasn't filled with goth style clothes to get his suit, when he was quickly reminded that the last time he had worn it had been at least six years ago. Just a few months before he decided to start wearing goth clothes and makeup and his father decided to not take him to any more dinner parties.

"Shoot…," he said.

"Jacob, I'll wait in the helicopter! Hurry up!" called his father from the door.

"Is it a really formal dinner? My suit doesn't fit me anymore!" Jack called from the window in his room that opened to the garden where the helicopter had landed.

His father shook his head and signaled him to get to the helicopter. Jack was surely going to get an earful now about his shitty clothes and whatnot. He decided to take off his black coat and gloves, then grabbed some elegant black jacket his mother had sent him from Spain last month and ran to the helicopter, while wiping his eyes to get the makeup off. His father had never liked it, and Jack didn't want him to suddenly decide he shouldn't go to the party because of it. His eyes started tearing up, and he tripped over a small rock on the side of the driveway.

"What are you doing? You're going to fall! Try to see while you run, Jacob!" his father said, slapping Jack's hands away from his face.

"Sorry, just trying to get this off…," mumbled Jack.

His father glared down at him. When had the old man gotten so many white strands among the perfectly styled auburn of his hair? There were so many.

His father smiled, then laughed. "Now you look like a panda. For god's sake, Jack, get in the helicopter already!"

With a nervous laugh, Jack climbed into the family helicopter and they went straight to the airport. It had been a while since he had last flown in anything that wasn't his helipad, even though he could always call for the family jet. He didn't use it often, because his mother tended to use it almost all the time.

"Is mom already there or are we gonna pick her up somewhere?" asked Jack, settling down on a seat by the window.

His father took a moment to serve himself some cognac before answering.

"Your mother isn't coming. She's still somewhere in Canada."

"Aw too bad," shrugged Jack. He hadn't seen her in a long while, though she sent presents every month from wherever she was at the time, just like his father.

Jack looked up, and found his father looking at him intently. The older man's eyes looked away as soon as they met his. There was something going on, and a cold dread settled in Jack's stomach.

They traveled in silence, with jack sketching some ideas he'd been thinking about, regarding a new model of latency booster chip while his father sent emails and checked his many investments.

It was a warm kind of silence that Jack hadn't realized he missed.


	2. Chapter 2

Wuya dragged her feet as she entered Chase's hideout. Those damned monks had taken the Wu right out of her hands, but she didn't have enough strength to keep being angry at them. Instead, she gritted her teeth and sat on the ground beside the pool. It was at times like these when she missed that idiot Jack Spicer making a loud entrance and taking all of the monks' attention so she could get the Wu. She combed back her messed up hair and wondered just where that idiot Jack was. It wasn't like him to let a Wu go without putting up a pathetic effort to get it.

She trailed a finger across the still waters of the pool, forming a sigil that she knew by heart.

"Well, well, where have you been Jackie?" she whispered, as an image formed on the waves.

A great hall appeared, lighted by great chandeliers with shining crystals like diamonds that reflected soft lights over the people that danced and talked; all of them dressed in expensive tuxedos and bejeweled dresses. Among them, she saw a red haired head and instantly recognized Jack.

She had to blink twice to make sure that wasn't good Jack, though. Jack sat next to an ugly old man with gray hair who seemed to listen intently to him. He was dressed in a tuxedo that fit him perfectly, yet he had unbuttoned the first two buttons of the shirt and taken off the bow tie, which hung from his neck along with his goggles. It looked like Jack had tried to style his hair into something more appropriate for the occasion, combing it backwards, but his rebel strands of hair were already sticking up and out of place. And the usual black line down his left eye was nowhere to be seen, which gave him an older look that, more than anything else, made him look like a stranger to Wuya.

"I mean, under normal conditions it behaves perfectly, but put any kind of strain on it and the signals start going off the charts," was saying Jack to the old man. Wuya recognized the obsession shining in his eyes when he recounted his experiments and the different tests he had made with his robots. It was the same spark that his eyes showed whenever he talked about world domination, and the whole scene gave Wuya a strange sense of nostalgia that she hated.

"With those clothes he looks even thinner and almost sick," said a voice behind her, and Wuya whirled around to find Chase looking down at the images on the pool.

A splash of her hand and Jack's image faded away.

"He has always been one for ridiculous disguises," said Wuya, rising from her spot.

She saw Chase eyeing her intently, looking for something Wuya wished wasn't plain in her face.

Humanity.

Jack always brought up the worst in everyone.


	3. Chapter 3

Professor Erlson listened intently as Jack listed his tests of the latency booster he had developed. As soon as Jack realized he was talking to someone who actually understood what he was talking about, he hadn't stopped talking. The speed tests, the way it worked with different versions of his AI software. By the time he couldn't keep talking, he had already enunciated enough tests results to publish a paper on the behavior of AI on humanoid robots and the different ways using the latency booster to get past the uncanny valley in terms of behavior and speed of reaction.

The professor blinked, then opened and closed his mouth a few times. As if he had something to say and then just realized that nope, not happening. Jack knew the feeling, so he just grinned, and felt his face hurt. For a moment he thought it was because he had spent the last hour and a half talking nonstop, but then he caught a glance of his own reflection on a champagne glass and realized he had been smiling all the time. Not grinning, or smirking, but smiling softly in a way that pulled at the edges of his lips ever so slightly.

The professor had said something.

"Uh, what?" he asked, looking away from anything that might reflect his face.

"I asked what university you go to, Jack," said the professor, laughing a bit. Jack blushed, and wondered if he should make up some lie or...

"Uhm, I'm home schooled. And seventeen," he said.

"Unbelievable...unbelievable...," that was the only word the professor could say for a while, but then he stood up and demanded that Jack study at Leipzig University with him so they could work on coordinating their experiments and advancing each other's discoveries on the field of robotics.

Jack was suddenly terrified.

He had always sucked at school. Oh, studying and learning was fine, of course. He loved learning. But the whole 'interacting with other people' had been hell on earth. And it was all so boring!

But of course, he wouldn't be studying like a normal student, he would just use the lab and direct his own experiments and have access to the leading minds in the field. Enough tuning and support to finally complete all those great projects he had been working on but left behind because of the Wu hunting or his own boredom and laziness.

Someone brushed against his shoulder, and he looked next to him to find a freckled face surrounded by curly reddish hair. Megan.

"My cousin's not one for quick decisions," she said, flashing a smile that reminded Jack of the times she had thrown him fully clothed to the pool.

The professor nodded. "Of course, of course. You should think about something like this carefully. But if you have the time, you should visit me at the university. I will show you around and you can think about it better. How about that?"

"Y-yeah, sure," mumbled Jack, all too aware that Megan was suddenly taller than he remembered. Taller than him, for that matter.

"Perfect. Here is my card. Do call me soon. I will have a few things we've been working on to show you."

Jack nodded, and the professor excused himself saying he had to get back to his hotel. When Jack looked around he noticed only a handful of people still wandered around the hall.

"Uncle said to make sure you went back to the hotel while he and dad talked," said Megan. Her dress managed to fail at hiding the fact that her body had decided hips were optional and unnecessary. Jack filed the knowledge away for the inevitable verbal fight that was sure to come.

"Nah, tell him I went back home. I know how long those talks take," he said, and passed a hand through his hair. The stiffness of it was giving him a headache.

Megan pulled at his coat. "No. Go back. He looked like he was pretty serious 'bout that," she said.

Megan wouldn't face him, and she didn't seem to want to comment on how he looked like a twilight vampire reject, as was usual on her, which was starting to worry him.

"What's he on now? I know there's something going on, he's been all weird and shit," Jack said, and  shoved his hands in his pockets as they walked out of the hall into the reception with a golden fountain.

"Hell if I know," said Megan, in the tone that Jack knew meant she knew all about it. But he would have more of a chance at getting anything out of Chase Young that out of Megan when she got like that.

"Fine, whatever, I'm going back to the hotel Ms. Goliath," he said.

Megan kicked him in the shin and then pushed him straight into the fountain.

"Here's for old times’ sake, loser," she said.

"You suck!" spat Jack from the fountain. "You and your stupid cat obsessed friend!"

"What?"

"That cat freak Katnappe!"

"Oh, yeah, the cat freak. You still talk to her?"

"Unfortunately, even though she's your friend. Take her back."

"No way. I just invited her to that party to get embarrassing photos of her, but then she disappeared."

"I bet she did," said Jack, crawling out of the fountain. He looked up at Megan, who had a thoughtful expression devoid of malice that scared Jack far more than anything. "What?!"

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"I bet that's a complicated thing for you."

Jack found himself in the fountain again.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack had gone back to the hotel that night. Dripping wet and miserable in his new tuxedo, it was the only thing he could do. Once there, he took a warm bath and then threw himself on the couch to watch cartoons with a notebook where he started drafting a bit of what he had told professor Erlser. He still hadn't made up his mind about what he was going to say to the professor. He didn't even know what he himself thought about the whole idea. But regardless of that, he thought he might just put together a simple draft of a paper that explained everything they'd talked that night and send it to him so he could develop something with their joint knowledge.

He chewed on his pencil as another episode of the Metalocalypse marathon started on the tv. The more he thought about having a lab full of competent people at his service the more incomplete projects rose to the front of his mind. Most would only require a bunch of boring tuning up, while others required a lot of dull tests performed so he could finish them. So many things that he didn't want to deal with because they were just too boring for him, but which in their current state served no purpose. How much faster could he advance his discoveries if he could get all that awful dredging work out of the way?

He fell asleep thinking of endless possibilities.

His father never arrived.


	5. Chapter 5

The latest Wu, the Rolling Dawn, was one of the few that caught Chase's attention. It increased the time time that spells lasted. He had heard it was an almost insignificant amount of time, though. A few days at most. But with dragons so scarce, he was willing to test it. So he had followed Wuya to Paris, a city he hadn't seen in a few hundred years. The streets were clean, and there were almost no beggars around, which was a surprising change. Yet, it still had the same feeling of years past, despite the new glass buildings all around. Paris would always be Paris, it seemed. When you were immortal, time passed differently, changing everything around you so much, that finding something that stayed the same was a pleasant surprise.

"I found it!" shouted Wuya, pointing at a gargoyle on top of a building. It held a golden talisman in its open jaws. From the south, Chase could feel a dragon's presence approaching. He jumped up the building, holding on to any edge, and using his claws when there was none. He had already reached the top when Dojo came down among the clouds.

Kimiko jumped down from Dojo's back, accelerating her fall, and shooting a fireball at the gargoyle just when Chase had been about to grab it. He roared as the talisman fell among bits of stone from the broken gargoyle.

"Chase Young! We are here to stop you!" shouted Omi as he and the others jumped from Dojo's back. Chase smirked and jumped down the building to search for the wu. His fall was met with fireballs as Kimiko tried her best to stop him. Raimundo took out the sword of the storm and used the wind to draw kimiko's fireballs into a fire tornado around Chase.

The warlord smirked. They had all become much better than he had expected.

But not good enough.

He punched the ground at the center of the tornado, throwing Kimiko off balance and making a gash in the firewall to jump through and kick her. Surprised right out of his focus it took only a jump and a punch to get Raimundo out of the crashed into the building to his left leaving a hole and a rain of debris behind him.

All around, the screams of the terrified commoners surrounded them in a beautiful cacophony of terror, and he delighted at them.

Until he recognized one.

A loud screeching, like that of a little girl.

"Spicer...," he muttered, looking behind him to where the street opened into a large avenue, and saw a head of long, bright red hair. And the skin, almost white.

But that was a woman.

A couple men in dark suits with guns rushed to cover her from the falling debris, while more of them appeared on top of all the buildings around them, with guns at their hands.

Chase looked at the woman again, seeing her struggle to get up from the ground, and caught a sight of her face.

Red eyes.

Chase Young didn't believe in coincidences, so he put a tracking spell on her before she was rushed into a black car. By the time he looked back towards the monks, Omi had already taken hold of the Shen Gon Wu. It seemed like Spicer managed to ruin everything without even being present. Just his existence proved disastrous for all who had to deal with him.

Chase lifted an eyebrow at Omi, who seemed at a loss for words for once.

"You have all gotten much better," he purred. "I will be seeing you all again soon."

And disappeared without even waiting to see what had happened to Wuya.


	6. Chapter 6

Jack woke up to find a blanket draped over him and his father talking on the phone to someone in french. He grinned, thinking about that time when his mom said that he'd inherited his language skills from his father.

He hadn't expected his father to really go back to the hotel, so that was a nice surprise too.

The memory of Megan's face when he asked what was going on flashed through his mind, and erased all traces of the smile. He started to get ready for the other shoe to drop. Better get ready, since experience said that was the next thing just waiting to happen

His father put down the cell phone. "You should have at least gone to bed and watched the tv there," he said, giving him an annoyed look. "I can no longer carry you to your bed. You are almost as tall as Megan now."

Jack got up. Room service had already brought breakfast.

"She's gonna be huge," he said, and sat down to get himself a huge stack of pancakes. He hadn't realized it but he was starving. He had spent most of the night talking without paying any attention to the food, in fact.

"No, Jack, she's already huge. And so are you," said his father, eyeing him critically.

Jack looked up, his mouth full of pancakes. He had forgotten that his father was, in fact, two meters tall.

Another incoming call saved them the awkward moment of having to face the fact that they hadn't really seen each other in way too long. If you didn't count video calls, letters, or phone calls, it could easily have been years. A few, at least. It was no surprise they had forgotten how each other looked.

His father put his cell phone away. "Did you, uhm...have fun?" he asked.

The word 'fun' sounded awkward coming from him. Jack was starting to realize how completely absurd this all was. If his father had suddenly gotten some silly guilt attack over not seeing him and tried to overcompensate. Frankly, Jack would have much preferred it if he had just sent him more expensive gifts; instead of taking him out to play like some kind of pet. He felt really stupid right now.

"Yes. A lot," he said, hiding the sarcasm behind a mouthful of pancakes.

"Megan said that the professor looked really interested in you."

"Megan was so nice yesterday," said Jack between gritted teeth.

His father scoffed out a laugh. "Yes, the fountain. The staff told me about it. Will you two ever grow up?"

"She used all her energy in growing up, she didn't have any left for maturing!" yelled Jack.

The look his father gave him froze him on the spot. He was suddenly twelve again, and shouting about how Megan had stolen his piece of cake and thrown him to the pool.

His father shook his head and put away his cell phone. "Well, one of you will have to start being the adult at some point. I hope it's you."

"Ugh, next time warn me ahead to expect her. She surprised me at the worst moment. I agreed to visit the professor's university," said Jack.

"What?"

"Well, he liked my experiments and said that he would like me to work with him at Leipzig University. He said that I should go and take a look."

"Really? That...that sounds great. Why didn't you want to go? You said you really liked his research."

"I do! It's just...I mean...I'm not good at school, and...stuff…," said Jack, putting down his fork.

His father's brow furrowed, and Jack steeled himself for a lecture on how much of a disappointment he was. Again. It was easier to just delete the lectures by email.

"Jacob. I think you should go," said his father, and paused. Jack clenched his fists so hard, he could feel the skin breaking under his nails. "I know it was better for you at the time, but I never agreed with your mother on taking you out of school."

"But I'm much more intelligent than anyone my age! I didn't need it!"

"Not to learn. But to live. Jacob, I have to say, I'm worried about you. You are almost a man and...I just want to know you will be alright."

Jack felt his face heating. This man at the other side of the world, through a screen, had seen him change. Had seen time pass.

"And going to university is going to help how?" he lashed out tiredly, knowing he had already lost.

"You will see what others are doing. The title doesn't matter, but the experience will be good for you. Try it for a while. At least go and take a look, if you have already agreed to that."

"Fine. Fine, I'll go. But this is useless. I'm fine. I could just as well start working there already, no need for any stupid study course."

"You could do that too," said his father with the slightest hint of a smirk.

Jack blinked, realizing too late he had fallen into another trap. How did his father even do that? Evil was supposed to come from his mom's side!


	7. Chapter 7

After casting a spell that would make his armor look like modern clothes, he followed the trail his mark had left on the woman right into a very expensive restaurant. He found her sitting at a table with a man many years younger than her. Chase took a seat at the bar from which he could observe discreetly and listen to their chat with his heightened sense of hearing.

"Well, I just couldn't make it. Will you stop whining about it?" was saying the redheaded woman. She had cold, uncaring eyes that gave away her age despite the youthful appearance of her skin and perfectly styled hair.

"I'm not whining, but you said you would be there, and the president of the company was very disappointed that he didn't get to meet you."

"I wasn't going to invest in his pathetic little company anyway. I don't see what's the point of his insistence, if he already knows my decision," she complained.

The woman looked around, seemingly bored of her companion. The more Chase looked at her, the more he saw the resemblance between her and Jack Spicer. It was there in the way she half pouted to show her boredom, even the way she held her martini reminded Chase of that fool of Spicer holding one of his tools. Casual elegance entwined with a spoiled, childish attitude. If Spicer was a woman, he would surely end up growing into this kind of bratty lady with eyes devoid of any empathy. The thought made him smirk despite himself.

The woman looked in his direction, and noticed him instantly. Her mouth turned into a predatory smirk.

"I'll see you at Diana's party tonight. Or not, whatever," she told her companion, getting up and approaching Chase with a confident attitude. Chase was not interested at all, but he did appreciate the way this woman acted as if the world should bow down to her just for existing. If only such confidence could be taught, maybe Spicer wouldn't be so hopeless. "Well, well, someone's been staring. How rude of you, sir," She said with a soft, alluring tone.

Chase gave her extra points for trying, and a golden star for being far more interesting than Wuya.

"I'm sorry, but you do remind me so much of a…friend of mine." He smirked as he said 'friend'.

"That is such a common excuse. I'd have expected more from a gentleman as elegant as you."

"I'm afraid it's the truth. The resemblance is almost uncanny. Spicer himself would be surprised."

The woman's eyes narrowed, showing a violent coldness.

"What? Who is this friend of yours?" she demanded.

"Jacob Spicer," said Chase getting up from his place at the bar, and offered a polite bow to play the part of the perfect gentleman. Everything was falling into place. He didn't expect to run into such a chance. "I'm sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Chase Young."

As he looked up, Chase found all traces of the dangerous ice in the woman's eyes had vanished, replaced by a strange warmth.

"Oh, my god! You're Chase Young!" she said, giggling like a school girl. "I'm Jack's mom, you can call me Miranda. Jack can't stop talking about you. Come, come. I've been wanting to meet you so much, but Jack says you are a very busy man," she took his arm and led him to a table next to one of the large windows.

Chase was stunned into silence at the way the woman seemed to have changed personalities completely. But the thing that astounded him even more was the way this change only accentuated the similarities between the woman and Jack Spicer. "I thought Jack had been exaggerating when describing you, but you really are a great looking gentleman. Is it true you are also a martial arts master?"

"I am…quite good at it."

"And humble, oh my! You are as perfect as he describes you. It's like you're his idol."

"Heh. Really? I wouldn't have suspected it," lied Chase.

"Oh, he tells me everything."

Miranda snapped her fingers and a waiter appeared instantly next to their table ready to take their orders. The apathetic coldness was gone, but she still acted like a queen. And everyone happily obliged. It was a strange kind of power, Chase realized. He ruled by imposing his might and strength, conquering and overpowering. But here was this woman, who appeared to command respect by her mere existence.

"Order anything you want, it's on me." She encouraged him with a smile. "I had never met any of Jack's friends. He's always so secretive about his social life, but I'm so glad he's joined your treasure hunt game, even if he loses all the time. At least it gets him out of that basement, and just for that I'm willing to pay for any damages to the house."

Chase nearly choked on his jasmine tea. When Miranda had said that Jack told her everything, he didn't expect him to actually tell her about the hunt for the Shen Gon Wu. Although Spicer must have had to explain the constant destruction of his parents' property somehow.

"Ah. Well, we do get a little…excited sometimes," said Chase through gritted teeth.

Miranda nodded. "Oh, boys will always be boys. Don't worry."

Chase noticed a small trembling to her fingers when she held the pearls of her necklace, and her smile didn't seem as confident as before.

"My husband keeps saying that I worry too much about him. But I'm his mother, worrying about him is all I do," she said, and giggled again.

A woman in a dark suit approached. Chase had noticed the various men in dark suits from the moment he entered. It seemed that while Jack used robots, his mother used people. He liked the idea.

"Ma'am, we need to leave now if you are to see Mr. Soaldar."

Miranda sighed, and for a moment the cold was back in her eyes."That old fool. I can't wait to get rid of him," she turned her warm motherly smile back on for Chase. "I'm sorry, but I must leave. It's been lovely meeting you. If you ever have some time, it would be my pleasure to arrange a small dinner for all of you boys."

For a moment, Chase felt like Miranda would try pinching his cheeks. An image flashed before his eyes of a different woman, thousands of years ago, giving him that same smile and ruffling his hair.

He lowered his hands, hiding the fact that he had almost lost control over his human form, just for a second there.


	8. Chapter 8

Jack's father wouldn't leave until he made sure that Jack called the professor and arranged a date for a visit to the university.

After he left, Jack waited until the maids brought back his clean clothes. He checked on his Wu alert, since he had turned the volume off the day before, and realized he had lost yet another one. He groaned in frustration. As if he needed to get even more left behind on the Wu hunting. He checked the news and saw that it had been a pretty bad fight before any of them got a hold of the Wu. A fire tornado and a hole in the ground. Raimundo and Kimiko seemed to be working much better together, but the hole in the ground (at the center of the tornado, he noticed) had to have been Chase. If he got back to the house right now, he could finish setting up a new batch of robots and get things ready for the next Shen Gon Wu, and perhaps even get some info on the two Wus he had lost.

He put on his clothes and reached for his helipad. Which of course wasn't there. It was back home on the floor of his room where he had thrown it after taking off his coat. Cue facepalming moment. All he had on him was that awful black jacket and his set of emergency tools that he always carried in his usual pants. Not much, but it would have to do.

He looked at the TV, the DVD player and the room phone, quickly putting together all the components in his head and figuring he could build himself a half decent communicator to send messages to his computer back home. He would just need to use the screen from his cell phone. He took it out and saw a message from his mom, from last night.

_‘Hi baby! I'm in Paris. You want anything from here? I got you a beautiful black coat like the ones you like, but if you want anything else just ask.’_

Alarms started going off in Jack's head. So his mom had been in Paris at the time of the battle? He checked the news more thoroughly and found a headline about her: _"Miranda Spicer, wife of the famed multimillionaire Lionel Spicer, escapes strange explosion in Paris."_

"No...no, no, no..." he repeated as he called his mom's number. It rang a couple times and a woman's voice picked up.

"Hello, this is Miranda Spi-"

"Pass me my mom, Sarah," ordered Jack. There was a pause at the other end of the line. His mom's assistant knew better than to talk to Jack.

"Hi honey!," said his mom, voice high and chipper like always.

"Mom, are you alright?! I just saw the news on the showd- err, the explosion!"

"Oh, dear. I'm fine. Perfectly fine, don't worry. We were just passing by when some gas ducts or something exploded on a nearby street. Gave me a good fright, but nothing else honey".

Jack sighed. "Oh, well, good thing. Where are you right now?"

"Just finished a boring meeting with some old geezer. Oh, but you won't believe who I met earlier! Your friend Chase Young!"

Jack's legs gave out. "R-really?," he asked from the floor. His hands were shaking. "Is he still there with you?"

"Oh, no. We talked a bit and then I had to leave. But he is just as charming as you described him! And twice as handsome."

Jack crawled towards the dvd and started dismantling it. He needed to get his robots, his helipad, and his _everything_ as soon as possible.

"Heh, heh, I know right? Did he want to talk about something specific with you?" Jack tried to keep the paranoia in his voice to a minimum.

Chase had fought for a Shen Gon Wu (most likely he had won it, too) and had then gone to meet his mom. Why? It didn't make any sense at all. Chase hated him and didn't even care about his existence! Why would he-?

"Oh, no. We ran into each other at a restaurant and he said that I reminded him of his friend Jack. The world is so small, don't you think?"

"Yeah, so small," he grumbled.

Chase at a restaurant? And saying that Jack was his friend? That sounded like Wuya dressing up and trying to play an ugly prank on him. Wouldn't be the first time, either. He gritted his teeth when he thought of it. Wuya knew better than to mess with his parents. Or at least she should.

"I can see why you like him so much. I wish I could have stayed for a longer chat,” said his mom.

"Are you still in Paris? I'm in Austria. I went with dad to a party last night. Do you think you could pass by to get me?" he asked. He had to make sure Wuya hadn't done anything weird to his mom.

There was silence in the line, and Jack paused on dismantling the tv. "Mom?"

"He told you to go to a party in Austria?" asked her mom, anger clear in the edge of her voice.

Jack hesitated. Had they gotten into one of their weird fights again? He was so tired of them.

"Uh? Well, he went home to get me," he said.

"Hmp. I see. Is he still there?"

"No, he had some work somewhere else. I was supposed to take a plane home, but if you’re still around…"

"Oh, no, don't worry dear. I'll be there, wait for me. Hold on," she said. Jack could hear muffled yelling from the other end, and knew his mom would probably be shouting orders to her staff. It sounded like everything was as normal as usual, but he still wanted to check for himself. He got up and started taking apart the touch screen for the A/C controls, since he wouldn't be able to use his cell phone now.

His mom's voice came back. "I'll be there tonight darling. Can you take a cab to the airport or do you want me to call them?"

"Uh, I-"

A cold hand fell on his shoulder.

"You should let her call it. You'd just get lost," said a female voice behind him. Jack froze, and looked to the long, sharp nails on his shoulder.

"I'll get there myself mom. Bye," and he hung up.

Wuya let go of him. "Taking a vacation with your parents? How cute," she said.

"What do you want Wuya?" asked Jack, suddenly too aware of the fact that he had left all his things back home. Wuya sat down on the couch.

"Can't I come visit you Jackie dear?” she asked, fake sweetness coating her voice. “You haven't been around for the Showdowns, so I decided to come and see how you were doing."

"Really? Ah, well, you know. Busy and stuff. Dad wanted me to get out of the house, heh, heh...," said Jack

"Taking you out for a walk? You do look like you need fresh air," said Wuya, and looked at her nails with a bored expression.

Jack knew that they were just dancing around each other at this point. Waiting for the other one to take that one false step. It would be Jack, of course. But he liked to fall down his own way.

"Yeah, sort of...You know how they are".

He connected a couple cables and realized he wasn't getting anywhere with it in time for it to be useful.

"Actually, I don't. But it seems Chase does. Mind telling him why he was so interested in your mom, that he lost a Shen Gon Wu?"

"What? I don't-"

"Don't lie, Jack. You are so terribly bad at it. I heard your mom tell you she had met with Chase," she got up from the couch, and Jack stepped back. The touch screen was still connected to the A/C, and with a couple touches he had already overcharged it. Just a few seconds more.

"You can tell me everything now, or we can go somewhere more...private,” said Wuya, smirking down at him.

The entire A/C connection in the room went off. The air vents started smoking, and the fire alarm went off at the time the fire extinguisher drenched them.

"Jaaaaack!," shouted Wuya, striking at him through the smoke and water.

Jack sidestepped, stumbled over a chair and fell down. Wuya pushed her wet hair off her face and Jack used that moment to push the breakfast cart towards her from his spot on the floor. It hit her full on, and Jack ran out the hotel were already out to see what was going out, but Jack ignored everyone and dashed down the stairs. Thankfully this was some kind of boutique hotel with only a few floors, but he knew there was no way to outrun Wuya on his own. He was already feeling breathless when he reached the street outside, and he could hear Wuya tearing things apart inside the hotel.

He extended his arm to stop a taxi and got inside. "Go straight, as fast as you can. Now!" The driver gave him a strange look, but sped up. Jack sat back and breathed deeply. "Take the longest way to the airport, but don't slow down." he noticed the cd player in the taxi and tore it off the dashboard.

"Kid, don't you-!"

"I'll pay for it too! Just keep driving!" he gave the man a couple hundred dollar bills that his father had given him. He still had a couple credit cards but he had to finish his communicator before Wuya caught up with him and no matter what he did she would be at the airport when his mom arrived.

And furious.

She would be completely furious.


	9. Chapter 9

Miranda Spicer glared at her cell phone. Jack had sent a message saying he would be late, but then he had refused to answer all twelve of her calls. She paced the length of the jet with a glass of cognac while clutching at her pearls. Her assistant Sarah stayed on her seat and tried to not look at her.

That boy was in so much trouble. He knew he shouldn't make her worry like that. The least he could do was to answer her calls and explain what the problem was. She could bet it had been Lionel. He had made Jack lie and say he wasn't there. He had used Jack to find out where she was, of course. She should have suspected it and sent someone for Jack, but Lionel had already gotten to him and god knows what he had been telling her baby.

She screamed in rage and threw the glass to the floor. "Dammit! Why won't that kid answer?!"

"My, my; if only he had inherited your temper," said a voice from the entrance, and a red haired woman entered.

"Who are you? How did you get past security?" demanded Miranda.

"I'm sorry. Jack said he would call you. I'm Wuya, a friend of his. I'm sure he has told you about me".

Miranda blinked. "Oh. Wuya, of course. Please take a seat." Wuya stepped over the broken glass and sat in front of Sarah. Miranda noticed she wore no shoes, but stopped herself from rising an eyebrow at that. "Can I offer you something? Sarah, go tell Mr. Smith we are having a visitor."

Sarah nodded and left the jet. Miranda took an almost empty bottle of wine and looked at it critically.

"Wine will be fine," said Wuya. "Jack told me you and Chase had met today. That is very interesting, since Chase is a very...reserved man".

"Yes. Jack told me as much," she said.

In less than a heartbeat, Wuya held Miranda by the arm in an iron grip."You are smarter than Jack, what a surprise. Now call your men back". She pointed to the window where Miranda's bodyguards had surrounded the jet. She made a mental note to hire smarter bodyguards.

But for now, she would have to deal with this herself.

She bashed the wine bottle on Wuya's head and pushed her into the broken glass on the floor. She jumped over Wuya and ran to the entrance where her bodyguards were already rushing inside.

But when she looked back, Wuya had disappeared.

She fell to the ground in shock. Because on the bottle and on the floor was still blood, but she was unscathed.

Jack had been right, that woman was actually a witch.


	10. Chapter 10

A soft light illuminated the golden decorations embroidered by hand in the simple green tunic laid out on a slab of white marble. A tunic that had long ago stopped fitting him, even long before his immortality started. But it was the only thing from his childhood that had remained in the end. Jack's mother's smile had brought back the memory of this tunic, which he had long ago sealed in the deepest corner of his lair.

A thousand years meant nothing, when the feeling of a woman's hand passing through his hair was still burned ever so fresh in his skin. When he could still hear his mother’s voice calling him back to a home that no longer existed.

Wuya entered his lair. He knew it before the doors had finished opening. Wuya's angry aura was not something easy to ignore.

He closed the doors of the chamber and went up to see what was the matter with her. She had become more and more of a nuisance as of late.

"What is the matter this time?" he asked, but Wuya refused to look at him.

Then he saw the bloody footprints behind her.

"The matter? That idiot Jack is the matter!" Wuya turned around. She was seething, and had a small trail of blood running down the side of her face.

"Spicer did this to you?"

"One of the Spicers. His stupid mother is even more annoying than him".

"Oh."

And for the first time, Chase could not find anything more to say.


	11. Chapter 11

Jack found his mom at the airport cafeteria. She got up when she saw him and hugged him so hard, he could barely breathe.

"My baby! Where have you been?! Why didn't you answer any of my calls?!"

"I...dropped my phone, and then it didn't work. I was late because I was trying to fix it."

His mom shook her head. "You should have just bought another one instead of wasting so much time! I've been so worried."

"Sorry mom."

"Honey, you know I don't like to comment on your friends in a bad way, but that woman Wuya is just terrible. You absolutely can't keep seeing her!"

"Wuya was here?!"

"Yes, and she was an awful visitor. She was far worse than what you told me about. I really wish you would stop teaming with her".

Her assistant approached them. She looked pale and a bit sick. "The jet is ready, Miranda".

"Come on Jack, we are already late enough".

She got up. Her movements were tense and she didn't giggle like usual when he saw her.

"Wait, what happened? Are you alright? Did she do something to you?" he asked, jogging up to her side.

"No, no; nothing. She was just very rude. I'm afraid I had to be a bit rough with her to convince her to leave."

Jack felt his blood run cold. He remembered the last person his mom had to be rough with. His last nanny, Jeaninne.

"B-but you're fine, right? If she hurt you-"

"Oh, darling. It's fine. She did nothing," she held his head and Jack bowed down to let her kiss his forehead. He suddenly felt like he had failed her.

He should have known. If he hadn't been so scared, and so stupid, he would have seen that Wuya would go for his mom first.

"...Sorry if she was mean to you mom," he apologized.

"Don't worry honey. Oh my god! You're wearing the jacket I got you! I thought you hadn't liked it. Oh, you look so handsome dear."

Jack smiled and decided that he was going to wear that ugly jacket whenever he saw her.

They got into the jet and his mom started fishing among the many shopping bags she had for everything she had bought Jack.

Sarah was at the cabinet fixing his mom a drink. Jack used the moment to corner her.

"Sarah?"

"Yes, Mr. Spicer?"

"What happened?"

"I don't know sir".

"Sarah, please, I need to know".

She looked down, and seemed to have aged years with a single memory.

"I really didn't see anything. That woman arrived, and she- I don't know how she got past all the security, but suddenly she was here and Miranda knew something was wrong because she sent me to get commander Smith right away. When I came back...I don't know. There was a broken bottle, and, and...blood on the floor. But Miranda was fine, and the other woman had disappeared. I don't...I mean, I have no idea how-".

Sarah had started shaking, so Jack took the glass from her hands. "Go and try to sleep for a while. I'll take care of my mom".

"Jackie, dear! Come here!"

Jack went back to her mom and gave her the glass. She had extended a black coat over one of the seats. It looked like some high end version of his own usual goth coat. It was a bit shorter, and had big silver buttons all the way up and on every pocket.

"I know it's not very much like your usual style, but!", she pulled a scarf from one of the bags. "Look, this one has skulls! You like skulls. You can wear them together, especially now that it's nearly fall back home".

Jack looked at the jacket and the black scarf with white skulls. He had always thought that his mom just picked up anything she found around for him as an afterthought.

"Thanks mom, it's great."


	12. Chapter 12

Jack spent an afternoon with his mom in Germany, and then she had to fly to America the next day to negotiate the takeover of some company or something. Jack never paid much attention to any of that boring financial stuff.

He stayed behind to meet professor Erlson at the university. He was already feeling fed up with traveling, but tried to focus on his paper. It was almost done, but he had no idea what to do with all the info. He supposed he could send it for publishing, but what would that do for him? He had no idea how publishing academic papers worked, and honestly, no desire to find out.

He took a taxi that left him near the engineering faculty, but he would have to find the lab on his own.

Looking at the faculty building, and seeing all the students coming in and out of the classrooms made him nervous. He had only gone to school until he was nine, and had been homeschooled until he was twelve. He had already learned everything up to high school by then, and classes only served to bore him. The whole idea of even going there to visit was now looking like the worst idea ever. Yes, he did like the professor's research, and had used many of his discoveries in his own robots; but working with him seemed useless and completely unnecessary. He could complete anything on his own given enough time, so why bother going to some stupid lab?

Papers in hand, he made his way through the students and checked the numbers on the doors until he found the one. He stood outside for a moment, thinking that he could still back away now and just tell the professor that he was simply not interested, when someone opened the door from the other side and hit him in the face making him drop his papers.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" said some blonde guy with the ugliest glasses Jack had ever seen. They made his eyes look like they took half of his face.

"What the hell, man?! Be careful dammit!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!", he kept saying, and kneeled down to help Jack pick up everything.

Professor Erlson appeared on the doorway. "What is going on? Oh, Jacob, hi. I expected you a little later. Come on in, I'd like you to meet everybody".

Jack almost growled. Meeting people was very low on his scale of Things He Liked To Do.

The professor took him to the center of the lab. There were about ten people working on different things. Jack recognized the professor's equilibrium test robot that had been acclaimed among the robotics community because it could do ballet poses. If only the professor could see Jack's balance chip that made all movements flow like a dream.

"Alright everybody. Remember how I told you about a few changes we were going to make to our research? Well, this is Jacob Spicer. He has some very interesting tests results with the information from our latest discoveries on the latency booster chip".

"Uhm, Hi... Everyone", on the back, a dark haired woman lifted her eyebrows at him. On the opposite corner, a man and a woman whispered to themselves while looking at his hair, his makeup, his boots...Jack had been there for less than a full minute, and he already wanted to burn down the whole place. He passed a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down.

"Please Jack, do you think you could outline - very broadly, of course-, the things we talked about the other day? Here, have a marker if you want to use the whiteboard".

Jack nodded, pointedly avoiding the stares of everyone around. He left his papers on the table next to him. They were merely a sort of gift for the professor, to be honest. All the information he needed was already on his mind. And so, he took a deep breath, and tried to decide on the best part to start with.

"Alright, so...I started trying the latency booster chip on one of my robots in order to increase the reaction time to stimuli between the movement and the AI data processing," he started writing the starting reaction times. As he wrote numbers, formulas, and test results on the whiteboard, he felt lighter, calmer.

He could put order in the world. He knew he could, if only he could understand it.

He talked, explained, detailed the broader aspects of his theories; putting emphasis on all the things that had given him the most trouble.

By the time he got thirsty, sunset light came filtering through the lab windows.

They ordered pizza.

He kept talking.


	13. Chapter 13

By midnight, the other research assistants had already left, but Jack was pumped on caffeine and sugar.

And stress.

So much stress.

“It will take us a while to go through your material,” said the professor, thumbing through the pages of Jack’s work compilation. “But despite that, I will make a strong appeal for you to be accepted into our robotics program right away. By the time they approve it, we should be ready to set up the work program we’ll follow.”

“Uhm, yeah…,” said Jack, crossing his arms and avoiding the professor’s stare.  “Would I have to…you know, enroll? Like, would that be absolutely necessary?”

The professor lowered the papers and looked straight at Jack in a way Jack couldn’t identify. Was he disappointed in his hesitation? Angry at him? Worried?

“Well Jack, you don’t have a degree. In anything. The criticism for your work will be much harder if you do not have an institution behind you,” he said. “And access to the lab is only granted to University students.”

“I have a lab at home,” mumbled Jack, already knowing it was a lost battle.

“I know you do. And I’m sure Herr Lionel Spicer doesn’t skimp on providing you with any materials you require,” said the professor. “But even private funding cannot do what an university can. And your credibility would not be criticized as long as our department stands behind you. And they all will, once we put some structure in your work and present it to them.”

“I guess…,” said Jack, still not convinced. “I don’t really like the idea of classes though.”

“I’m sure you don’t. It’s hard to go back to academia when you’ve been home schooled your whole life. Why don’t you think about it for a while. I’ll read through the details of your work, and call you back on a few days. How about next Friday? Just consider it, talk about it with your parents and see what they think about the whole idea. You don’t have to give me an answer right now.”

Jack scratched his head. “That sounds good, yeah. I…I’ll be going then,” he said.

“You want me to call you a cab?” asked the professor, escorting him outside the lab.

“No, my chauffer is waiting nearby,” said Jack, taking out his phone and sending a message to the jackbot waiting on his father’s car.

“Of course, of course,” said the professor with a laugh. “Well then, I’ll leave you. Call you on Friday.”

Jack nodded and jogged down the stairs leading to the lab just as the car parked in front of the lab.

The whole thing had gone…strangely fine. He almost couldn’t believe it.

As he got in the car, he realized he had already taken a decision.


	14. Chapter 14

Jack finished looking over his projects inventory system, and pushed his swirly chair away from the desk towards another control panel where a program was running up the last date on his stress tests about the new alloy he would use for his jackbots. He had to finish inventorying not only all of his actual stuff like his robots, instruments and tools, but also the current status of his projects. He would feel like an idiot if he suddenly lost some of the data that supported the papers that he had given the professor. He had to finish everything and it was already Wednesday night. He looked at his watch, and say that it was Thursday morning.

He groaned.

It was Thursday morning and he hadn't slept in the past forty eight hours. He took a long drink of the cold coffee he had left at his work bench at some point during yesterday. Or maybe the day before yesterday? His head was full of calculations, mental notes, lists about his projects, and so much stuff that didn't leave any space to worry about exactly which coffee he was drinking. Everything tasted like dirt water to him at this point.

An alarm went off, making his heart jump painfully in his heart. If his data processor had overheated again, he was going to scream.

He stood up and checked the alarm. A new Shen Gon Wu. He stared at the screen that displayed the map of the Wu's location for a moment, unable to understand what was happening. Then the fog in his mind cleared, and he gasped. A Wu! Finally! He had so much to do, but he couldn't let an opportunity like this escape him. The Wu was so close, near the Russian border. He cackled, and picked up his coat and helipad.

As he zipped up his coat he heard his cell phone going off. He stared at the screen as he grabbed the monkey staff. It was his dad. Probably to ask him how his visit to the university had been. A bit late, but Jack appreciated his dad's effort to make a space in his busy schedule to call him.

He did not appreciate the timing though.

He huffed, wrote down _'Call dad'_ on a post it and ran up the basement stairs. His dad would have to wait.


	15. Chapter 15

The showdown didn't go as planned. Actually, Jack made a mental note to keep in mind that he should start planning for there to be a moment during the Shen Gon Wu chase, where he would end up hanging from a cliff and holding on for dear life with only one hand. He needed an emergency backup plan for these things.

He swung himself so that he could hold on to the cliff with both hands and pull himself up. Once he was back up on the field, he saw that Raimundo and Clay kept Chase at bay while Omi made a run for the Shen Gon Wu shining on the cliff to the left.

In a heartbeat, Jack ran towards Omi, snapping off his ruined helipad ( _thanks to that idiot Omi_ ), and snatched his emergency remote control from the inner pocket of his coat. There was no way he could match Omi's speed at this point, but a glance at the screen of the emergency control showed him that two of his jackbots had recovered enough for basic functions. He needed only to have them throw Omi off the cliff once he started climbing. Just a little more.

He kept running, pressing buttons to give the exact coordinates, just as he saw Omi run up the cliff. He stopped, pulled a small cylinder from within his coat, and twirled it, so that it extended to the size of a spear. As it extended, he could feel the web of tiny nanobots extending through his skin.

_'_ _Hurry, hurry'_ he thought, until a couple of seconds later, he felt a tiny shock go through him. The signal that his nanobots had activated.

He cackled, and kept running towards the cliff. He felt lighter with each step. The process of levitation went much faster than his experiments had shown, but he decided not to care. As long as his new nano impulsors worked, he was happy. (And he wasn't 100% sure they would. He had kept them in reserve for a reason, and that reason was that they tended to go boom in a very ugly way.) But, desperate situations called for desperate measure, was what his mom always said.

He felt himself too far from the ground, and took impulse to start gliding over the ground. It felt like he was ice skating. Who needed a dumb hovering board when you could hover yourself? The makers of Back to the Future clearly didn't dream big enough.

Something exploded behind him, and he saw Clay be thrown straight into the cliff to his left. Then he felt something hit him from behind, and screamed as he crashed to the ground with Raimundo on top of him.

Chase laughed at them, while he ran up towards Omi. "You scream just like your mother, insect," he said, running past them.

"Aw man, that was nasty," said Raimundo, pushing himself off Jack. "No need to mess with anyone's mom."

Jack saw red. A blinding rage filled him, extending from the center of his chest. How dared he? How?!

He couldn't hear anything but the pulsing of his own blood flowing through his veins.

He couldn't speak.

He couldn't think.

He lifted the metal spear, charged it, and threw it at Chase with all his strength. Chase scoffed a laugh, and moved to swat it away in midair, when Jack pulled back his arm, making the spear twist in the air and hit Chase in the head from behind. Jack clenched his fist, and an electric discharge electrocuted Chase, throwing him to the ground.

"She's off limits you jerk!" shouted Jack, while next to him Raimundo damn near pissed from laughter.

Chase recovered with a roar. He turned into a lizard and launched himself at Jack.

Raimundo jumped out of the way, and Jack backflipped away from Chase. He gave a short prayer for his nanobots to work, and glided away from Chase, evading his claws by a hair's breadth. Up in the cliff, he heard Omi cry out in victory when he crushed the jackbots and reached the Shen Gon Wu, but Jack knew Chase had stopped caring about it.

"Yo, jerk, we got beat," said Jack, pointing at Omi even as he glided backwards and twirled over a boulder with a triple axel jump, and landing on the other side perfectly just seconds before Chase crashed through it, reducing it to dust. Chase recovered his human form and stopped for just enough time to call down lightning on him.

"Fine by me," muttered Jack. He skated between the lightning bolts, feeling each of them get closer and closer. For all of his near perfect ice skating skills, he could feel the web of energy of his nanobots cracking over his skin. They felt hotter and hotter. Too hot.

A lightning bolt singed part of his hair, and he knew that he would crash before he could ever outrun Chase.

His spear floated back to him, and the made a wide u turn straight towards Chase, who smirked at him.

"You finally fight like a man, Spicer?" he asked.

"No," said Jack, and threw the spear between them. The nanobots stuck to it, overheating just in time to form an energy web over chase.

And exploding.

Exploding with such power, that even as the speed that he had while gliding allowed Jack to crash far from the main explosion, he was still thrown far away, down the cliff he had narrowly avoided just minutes later.

_'_ _This is it'_ , he thought as he fell, and his mind scrambled for any ideas to save himself. No jackbots. No helipad. The wind hit his face and the ground rose up at dizzying speeds. No nanobots. No Shen Gon Wu. He would hit head first against the ground. No chance of survival there. None.

His mom was going to cry.

His dad probably wouldn't.

Not until he was alone.

Jack cried.

Raimundo caught him. He pulled Jack up on the back of Dojo, laughing.

"Hell yeah! That was a good one!" said Raimundo.

"Well done there cowboy," said Clay, patting him in the back.

Jack breathed fast. Faster. Faster. He was hyperventilating. He knew he was, but he couldn't stop himself.

Jack fainted.


	16. Chapter 16

The Xiaolin Monks woke him up just as Dojo landed a few blocks from his house.

He felt his legs trembling under him as he jumped down from Dojo's back, and Clay helped to stabilize him.

"You sure you ok pal?" he asked, tipping his hat towards Jack.

"Yeah, sure. As long as Chase doesn't find me," said Jack, with bit of hysteria to his voice. The full magnitude of what he had done to Chase just barely coming back to him.

He kept thinking about the image of the ground rising up to meet him, and feeling like he was going to puke.

He walked back to his house, and saw the lights of the entrance lit, and a couple of bodyguards stationed at the door.

His parents were home, and from the looks of the two black cars parked at the entrance, both of them were home. He felt a knot of dread on his throat.

"Mom? Dad? You're home?" he called, entering the house.

Both of them waited at the living room, and his mom jumped up when she saw him, running to grab him into a hug.

"Oh, Jack, we've been so worried," she said, kissing his cheek. She reeked of whiskey.

"I'm sorry mom. I was out with some friends," said Jack.

His father got up from the couch, glaring at him. "If you're going out with your friends at least answer my calls. You can't keep leaving everything to go play like you're ten anymore," he said.

Jack looked down. _'It's not like you even care. It's not like you ever answer my calls'_ he wanted to say, but knew that it would end badly, and he barely had the energy to stand up straight, much less to fight with his father.

His mom let go of Jack, and stood between him and his father. "Stop pressuring him! You're always pressuring him!"

"Miranda, he's almost an adult. He has to start being responsible, think about college, and a life of his own," said his father.

"He doesn't have to go to any college if he doesn't want to. He's a genius," said his mom, walking to the living room coffee table to pick up her whiskey glass.

It clinked against the glass of the table, and Jack felt sick. She was almost drooling out the words. Couldn't his father see how she was almost drunk again? Why did he have to pick now out of all times to talk about Jack's future?

"But he has to do something, Miranda. He can't keep wasting his potential on toys like this," said his father, pointing at the pile of spare robot parts that Jack had left near the kitchen entrance.

Jack cringed. If he had known that his parents would be home, he would have sent some of his robots to clean the house. He only hoped nothing had crashed and burned down in the basement.

"You think everything we do is a waste!" yelled his mom. "A waste of time, a waste of money… This marriage is what's really a waste!"

She threw her glass at the coffee table, sending glass shards flying all over the living room carpet. The guards entered the house immediately.

Jack jumped in to hold her before the fell over the glass, while his father told the guards that they were fine.

"Mom, please calm down. I'm really tired. Why don't we talk in the morning? Please, let's go," he said, guiding her away from the living room with shaking hands. She tripped with her high heels and fell against him. "Come on, let me take you to bed."

"I'm fine," she said, but she slipped on the stair steps, and Jack had to take off her heels and hold her until they reached the bedroom, and he helped her lay down on the bed.

"I'm sorry darling. I'm sorry, I didn't mean…," said his mom, crying. "But he makes me so angry. He's been going on and on, all evening. 'You never know where he is Miranda. You let him use too much money Miranda.' I'm so sick of him!"

"It's ok mom. We'll talk in the morning. You need to rest. We all need to rest," said Jack, taking off her jewelry and setting it on her bedside table.

He kissed her in the forehead and went back downstairs, where he found his dad sweeping the glass shards. He never let the servants clean up any of the messes that Jack's mom made.

"I'll get that in the morning dad," offered Jack, rubbing his neck. Every single muscle in his body hurt. Even the ones he didn't know he had. He wanted to take off his coat, but then his dad would see all his bruises.

"No, I don't want the maids to see it," he said. "I swear, she's getting worse and worse."

Jack clenched his fists. He hated when anyone badmouthed his mom. Especially when his dad did it.

"I didn't tell you because, uhm…I mean I just decided it today," said Jack, trying to shift the conversation away from his mom. "But I'm going to enroll in the university. The professor said that he will make some kind of…work program or whatever. We're going to join both his research and mine, but I have to be a student there for them to support me."

His father's shoulders relaxed as he picked up the dust picker full of broken glass. He gave Jack a tired smile.

"That's good Jacob. That's very good. I'm sorry for…," he motioned towards the living room. "I know I should believe more in you, but-"

"It's ok dad. I'm…I'm going to sleep," said Jack, walking towards the stairs.

His dad stayed down to finish cleaning.


	17. Chapter 17

It took half a day for Chase to recover. That very fact enraged and mystified him. Jack had never so much as managed to tick one of his hairs, but suddenly he could trick Chase enough to score some actual damage? Intriguing. Annoying, but also very intriguing.

He decided to pay him a visit once he had calmed down enough to realize that there might be more hidden depth to Spicer than he had initially expected.

When teleported himself straight to Spicer's house, though, he found it empty. Even the basement, where Spicer kept all his robots and random mechanical toys seemed emptier than usual. And yet, he could feel a presence in the house that had to be Spicer's. Could the insect be planning something?

Chase felt a slight thrill at the idea that Spicer had kept some of the rage he had displayed a few days ago, and was planning to attack him.

"Spicer I know you're here," called Chase, climbing the stairs of the basement.

"Excuse me?" said a deep voice from the second floor.

Chase quickly casted a spell to hide his armor, just in time to see an extremely tall man walk down the stairs, a briefcase in one hand and a cell phone in the other. He had reddish auburn hair, peppered with silver streaks here and there.

"Who are you?" demanded the man. "How did you get in my house?"

Chase lifted an elegant eyebrow at the man. This must be Spicer's father.

"Jack gave me a key," he said with a smirk.

The man rolled his eyes. "I see. That boy, I swear. Anyway," he said, putting away his cell phone and extending his hand to Chase. "I'm Lionel Spicer, Jacob's father. You're helping him move, I suppose?"

"Chase Young. Indeed, but I had a schedule problem. I'm afraid I might be a bit late," said Chase, noticing how firm the man's handshake felt. His height also made him wonder if the younger Spicer would become that tall. He was already the same height as Chase.

"Oh, so you're Chase Young. A pleasure to meet you," said Lionel, sizing Chase up and down, noticing his hair in particular. Chase could feel his eyes taking in every detail. "They already took the first boxes to the lab, but they will be taking at least a couple more trips to the university tomorrow. Jack should have warned you before he left for Leipzig. He can be so thoughtless sometimes."

Jack's father escorted him outside, and offered him a ride to the airport, but Chase politely refused. He had all the information he need to find the insect. Although he was tempted to accept, if only to find out how Jack would react when he found out that he had spoken with his father. The very idea that Chase had any contact with his family would light an intriguing fire in him.


	18. Chapter 18

It turned out that Jack was enrolling in a German university. Which stroke Chase as very odd, since it had no relation to any of the work that Jack had done for the Heylin side. His curiosity was picked despite himself.

And so he waited, near the entrance to the lab where Spicer was setting up what looked like a replica of his basement lab.

A black limousine parked nearby, and out came Miranda Spicer, her high heels clacking while she approached the lab with her assistant.

"Tell John that I can't see him next Saturday. In fact, clear all three days. From Friday to Sunday," she told her assistant, who scribbled it all down as fast as she could.

Chase wondered for a moment if he should hide himself, but the memory of the fight with Jack came back to him. The rage he saw on his face, the precision of his movements as he executed a plan that Chase couldn't see until the very half second before everything blew up. It was all too tempting to find a way to bring about that rage in Spicer.

"I'm sorry ma'am," said her assistant, a tiny brown haired woman with huge glasses. "But on Sunday you have a meeting with the board, and it's very important that-"

"Nothing is more important than clearing those days, Sarah," said Miranda, glaring at her.

The smaller woman recoiled and nodded. Then Miranda's gaze settled on Chase, and her expression softened. She waved at him.

"Oh, my. The amazing Chase Young," she said, giggling. She wore a simple black suit that made her fiery hair seem even redder. "What a surprise. Are you here to see Jack?"

"Oh, I was just…around, and decided to stop by and see how he was doing," he lied.

Just then, Jack came out of the lab, carrying a box with tools in one hand and speaking on a cell phone with the other. Chase could see the striking resemblance to his father.

"Well I need another transcript then," he was saying. "What do you mean you don't keep them after ten years? That's bull-" his eyes fell on his mom and Chase standing together near the entrance.

His panicked gaze went from his smiling mom, to Chase's predatory smirk, and the color drained completely from his face, such that his pale skin seemed almost ghostly. "M-mom…Chase…what?" he mumbled, dropping the phone on the box and taking out a hammer.

Chase almost scoffed out a laugh.

"Oh my darling, guess who just found the most beautiful apartment near the campus," she said, winking at him. "Me, not Chase. He just dropped by to see you," she winked again.

"Uh, really?" said Jack, walking slowly, keeping his eyes on Chase until he stood between him and his mom.

Chase lifted an eyebrow. This was one of the very few times when Jack didn't go absolutely crazy to throw himself at Chase's feet. It was an almost welcome sight. Spicer could do with a little pride, like his parents.

"You're shocked, what a surprise right?" said Miranda, pinching Jack's cheek. "I came to take you out to lunch and tell you everything about the apartment. Oh Chase, if you're not too busy I would love for you to accompany us for lunch."

Horror crossed through Jack's face. "He can't," he said, with absolute finality.

"I can't?" wondered Chase, tapping his lips with the tip of his finger.

"No. You have that… _thing_ you have to do. The meeting," said Jack, gritting his teeth. "In China. And you're late. Thank you _so much_ for coming to see me, but I wouldn't want to take any more of your valuable time."

"Well, if he has to go to China, he can have lunch with us and then go back with you," said Miranda. "You're going back to the house, aren't you? I'll leave the jet with you boys, it's no problem at all."

"No, mom. He really can't."

Chase laughed. "He's right. I'm already late as it is. But it was…good to see you _Jack._ I hope we could see each other and have a nice discussion like last time," he said, enjoying the way Jack stood firm between them, keenly aware of every single one of Chase's movements.

"That's too bad. But here's the address of Jack's new apartment," said Miranda, extending a card for Chase before Jack could stop her. "The phone for the house in China is at the back. It was a pleasure seeing you Chase."

Chase bowed, and took Miranda's hand to kiss her. For a moment there, he felt like Jack was ready to go at him with the hammer, everything else be damned.

"The pleasure is all mine," said Chase. Then he glanced at the fuming Jack. "I'll see you soon, Jack."

Jack only bared his teeth at him, and Chase turned around to walk away.

"Mom why did you do that?" whispered Jack, pulling his mom away, apparently forgetting Chase's superhuman hearing powers.

"He's fantastic Jack, fantastic! And beyond gorgeous. I don't understand why you haven't given him all your phones."

"Mom stop!"


	19. Chapter 19

Chase had gotten a good laugh out of messing with Jack, and Wuya thought that was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Chase wasn't the kind of man to get a laugh out of even acknowledging Jack's existence. Much less out of following him around to meet his parents.

Because of course, now he had met both of them. He had told Wuya everything in extenuating detail, especially about the father's height, which Wuya had never met, despite living for years in the Spicer household.

So now Wuya's curiosity was picked, and she found herself wearing a simple black coat over a simple black dress. The most that her powers could conjure for her to not look out of place at the restaurant where she waited. The shoes she had stolen from some silly little girl, and she was already regretting them. Shoes as a whole seemed like a pointless idea to her. High heels were a ridiculous way of self torture.

She looked over her menu at the tall auburn haired man sitting alone in the corner, talking on his cell phone. She recognized him from short video messages and photos sent along with long emails that Jack deleted as soon as he skimmed them.

_'_ _My dad's throwing a party in Canada. Bleagh, how boring.'_

_'_ _My dad is giving a conference in Norway. Talk about a sleep aid'_

_'_ _Happy birthday Jacob. What is this? –Oh the places you'll go-? What is this shit about?'_

Those were the only mentions Jack had made about him during the time that she spent with him. Although, to be honest, she tended to tune out his senseless ranting most of the time. And there had been lots and lots of senseless ranting.

And yet Chase was interested. Just because Jack had blown him up once.

"Jack blows things up. That's the only thing his machines do. They malfunction and blow up. It's not new," Wuya had told Chase when he told her about the strange web of miniature robots that had blown up right in his face.

"You don't understand. It wasn't the stupid robots. It was _him._ It's like he became someone else," he had said.

Wuya rolled her eyes at the memory of Chase's words. Jack was always becoming someone else. A movie director, a mafia boss, a scaredy mouse. He was a child. A child who would become anything that he thought would make him be more than the failure of a Heylin warrior that he was.

And despite that, Wuya was there, in some dumb restaurant spying on Jack's father as he barked orders through a cell phone. The realization made her feel beyond stupid.

She was about to leave when she felt a familiar presence nearby. One that she had encountered before. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Among the mess of mediocre human auras around, she felt the icy sharpness of Miranda Spicer's aura. That bitch owed her one for having hit her in the face with a bottle. No one did that. Especially not some rich bratty child who wore ugly shoes.

Wuya smirked and stood up, walking straight to Lionel Spicer's table, and sitting down next to him.

"Excuse me," she said, passing a hand through her hair. "I think I know you."

"Hm? Well, I don't," said Lionel, putting down his phone to look at her more closely. "No, I'm sorry, I do not think we know each other."

"But I must have met you somewhere," said Wuya putting a hand over his leg, and leaning in close to him.

"Lionel!" screeched Miranda from the entrance. She stalked up to them, and Wuya almost giggled with evil glee. "Another one Lionel?! And in public!"

The man stood up. "Miranda, please, this isn't what you think," he said, reaching out to her.

She grabbed the water pitcher on the table and threw the water at him. Wuya had to use all her self-discipline to not burst out laughing.

"Fuck you Lionel!" she shouted, then turned to Wuya with murderous eyes. "And you! Wuya!"

And Wuya was ready to fight, and more than glad that she had an excuse to tear off that bitch's hair with her own hands. She stood up, ready to pounce on her, but Jack's father stood between them, holding his wife by the shoulders.

"Miranda calm down please," he yelled. "You're causing a scene!"

His wife slapped him across the face. "That's all you ever care about!" she shouted, and walked out of the restaurant.


	20. Chapter 20

Jack knew his parents had gotten in trouble again when the reporters started clustering around his house, setting off his proximity alarms.

And the phone. The phone just kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing.

Jack disconnected all the phones after the third reporter called, asking him to make a statement regarding the state of his parents' marriage.

"It's none of your fucking business, that's my statement!" shouted Jack into the phone, before ripping the cord off, and regretted it immediately. Now he would be presented as an angry and unstable teen, victim of his parents' neglect. Which he kind of was, but he didn't want _that_ plastered across the headlines of tabloids all around the world.

He threw the phone across the room, and stalked back down to the basement.

No, he was no stupid _victim_ , he told himself. He was just pissed off. Really pissed off. The personal scandals between his parents had dwindled down in these past few years, to the point where he thought they had finally learned how to be adults. But no, here they were, yelling at each other in front of reporters like they used to do when he was a kid.

And it made him so angry. He slumped down on the chair in front of the central panel monitor. There was a small window displaying a constant live feed of all the mentions of him and his parents in the media.

_'_ _Spicer industries stock price drops 2 points after scandal racks the Spicer family'_

_'_ _Lionel Spicer caught red handed with unknown red haired woman'_

That caught Jack's attention, and he clicked on it, so that the monitor displayed the full article. He speed read through the bullshit article that didn't say anything, but stopped at the photos of his father at the restaurant. They showed him being surprised when Wuya sat down next to him.

Jack screamed in horror. It had been Wuya! He let his head fall on his desk. Of course, how could he have thought that Wuya would be fine with leaving his parents alone after getting into a fight with his mom? She wouldn't. She was every bit as petty and resentful as Jack was. He should have known.

His cell phone rang, and Jack growled. If the media had found his new cell phone number, someone at his phone company would pay for it. He pulled out his phone and saw it was a message from his dad.

_"_ _We're having dinner in Beijing tonight. The helicopter will be there around 6. Be ready."_

Jack sighed. It seemed like his dad was doing damage control as fast as possible. No wonder. He checked his watch and noticed he had half an hour at most. Time to put up a nice image for the photographers.

Another message arrived. This time from his mom.

_"_ _Please wear something nice darling."_

Jack rolled his eyes. His mom probably felt bad about her latest string of outbursts. Now she was all over the press as Lionel Spicer's crazy violent wife.

And it was all Wuya's fault.


	21. Chapter 21

The restaurant in Beijing was far more upscale and expensive than usual. Even by his father's standards, which was saying something.

Jack took a drink from his mineral water and kept his eyes firmly on the menu while he and his father waited for their mom to arrive. Jack wore the suit that his dad had gotten him for the dinner in Austria, along with the coat and scarf that his mom had given him. He figured that would appease both his parents regarding his attire.

"Oh, my, but getting out of Heathrow was ridiculous," said a girlish voice behind Jack, and he turned around to see his mom walking up to them. She wore a simple gray dress and her usual pearls. A waiter pulled out her chair and poured her a glass of wine.

His father made no comment, and Jack only gave her a hesitant smile. There was something wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"I knew that coat would look fantastic on you dear," said his mom, pride shining in her eyes as she looked at Jack, who smiled.

Well, so far things were going fine. They almost looked like a normal family to anyone looking.

And then it hit him.

Nobody was looking.

He glanced around. Their side of the restaurant was empty, with panels covering them from the far off tables at the other end of the restaurant.

He looked questioningly at his father who ignored him and gave the menu back to the waiter.

"Should we order now?" asked his father.

Jack nodded.

Dinner went on. Stiff and silent, with only the clanking of silverware between them. Even his mom, who loved to talk and talk about nothing and everything during dinner kept silent.

Jack wanted to scream.

There was no dessert. His parents ordered nothing, and Jack felt that he would vomit from the stress and worry churning in his stomach.

"We wanted to have dinner tonight with you Jack," said his father, and Jack cringed.

His father said 'we'. He never referred to them as 'we'. They each took their (usually opposing) decisions on their own, and the change in language made Jack mentally go through anything he might have done that would anger the both of them.

His father kept talking. "Because we wanted to tell you that after a lot of consideration, we have decided that it would be better for the three of us if your mother and I got divorced."

Jack felt his heart sink to the floor. It was almost a physical pain. A heaviness dragging him down straight from his chest.

"W-what? Because of that stupid fight over Wuya?" he asked, barely realizing that he had said it out loud.

His mother put her hand over Jack's own. "We had been considering it for a long time dear. That had nothing to do with it," she said.

But Jack knew she was lying. She only spoke calmly when she was lying.

"You can't be serious!" he cried. "That's so stupid! You've had worse fights!"

His father breathed deeply. "Yes, we have. That is why we think that it would be better for us to be separated from each other. We cannot resolve our differences, and the best solution for this is to remain apart from each other."

"This has nothing to do with you dear," said his mom. "This is a problem between us, and it has nothing to do with you. We still love you, and we will never stop loving you."

His dad patted Jack's shoulder, in a way that tried to show that he agreed with her.

But Jack knew the truth.

This was Wuya's fault.

It had to be.

It had to.


	22. Chapter 22

Jack pressed a series of commands on the control in his hand, and the test jackbot launched itself against a wall of titanium. It left a dent on the wall, but the new reinforcements to the armor held on. Jack took a small computer and checked the amount of internal damage sustained. It was roughly the same as before, and the jackbot would overheat in a few minutes.

"Dammit. Fix one thing and a hundred other problems spring out." He growled.

"Hello, Jack Spicer," Said a voice behind him, making Jack shriek like a girl and drop his computer. It smashed into pieces in the ground. Behind Jack stood Omi.

"W-what the-?! How did you get in here?!" said Jack.

"Through the door," said Omi.

Jack blinked. The Xiaolin monks usually blasted their way through any of the walls, so he hadn't put any defense mechanisms regarding anyone who just walked through the front door. And he had deactivated the motion alarms around the house that last time reporters had crowded around the house. He made a mental note of setting everything back up and running. Soon he would need all the protection he could get. Soon.

"I see… And what do you want, cheeseball? Come for a showdown all by your mighty little self?" said Jack, leaning against the table he had set up in the garden.

"I come not to do battle, Jack Spicer. I have come because I was worried about you," said Omi.

"Worried about me? You?"

Omi nodded. "You did not seem like yourself in the last showdown, and haven't been present in any of the showdowns lately. That does not seem like you."

Jack lifted an eyebrow at him. "Well, look at the perceptive little monk. Maybe I should kidnap you before you discover my evil secrets," he said.

Omi huffed. "I do not understand. You do not seem like yourself, but you also do not seem to be under any spell. Perhaps you are possessionated by a strange spirit?"

"Possess…It's possessed, you dumbass! Now make yourself useful and punch that robot as hard as you can," he pointed to the robot he was testing.

Omi shrugged, and did as he was told. The armor broke like glass under the little monk's powerful fist. Jack facepalmed.

"There goes a week of testing," he grumbled.

"But you told me to-" started Omi.

"I know, I know," said Jack. "The problem isn't you. It's that I can't find anything that guys won't break into pieces as soon as you touch it."

Omi scratched his head. "I don't know anything about robots, but all things come from the four elements, so it makes sense that all things would be sensitive to our elemental powers."

"Actually…You're kind of right," he said, and smirked. "I should have looked into the electromagnetic composition of the alloy, instead of…yes, yes, yes…," he muttered, taking notes in a notebook on the table.

He should have noticed that sooner. The monks, Chase and Wuya, they all had the capacity to affect mass at an atomic level. It seemed so obvious to him now. A plan started forming in his exhausted mind. He hadn't slept more than four hours during the past three days, but his rage sustained him. A cold, whisperind kind of rage that he had never felt. Building inside him. Waiting.

"You seem more like yourself now," said Omi, nudging the remains of the robot with the tip of his foot. "Were you acting so sad and strange because we kept breaking your robots?"

The joy Jack felt at his new discovery vanished when he remembered that he still had to take a decision about his future.

"Sad? Nah. It's something dumb," said Jack, throwing the notebook back on the table. "My parents are getting divorced, that's all."

The words felt strange in his mouth. Like he had just confessed a secret about himself. His parents hadn't come public with the divorce yet. A separation where both of them had such great company empires had to be handled with excessive care. Their state would have to be accounted for and separated. Just like their memories. Just like their scarce time with Jack.

Who, by the way, had turned eighteen a couple days ago, and had received delivery cakes and emails from his parents apologizing for not being able to be with him due to their busy schedules.

"What is 'divorced'?" asked Omi.

"It's when you stop being married to each other," explained Jack.

"Oh. Does that mean they will stop being your parents?"

"What? No! They just…It's…" Jack struggled to find the words for what was bothering him, but Omi had struck an integral truth. His parents wouldn't stop being his parents, married or not. "They decided that they don't like each other anymore, and will be getting separated. It's not like this will be such a big change in my life. I barely even see them anyway. This shouldn't bother me so much. I should just tell them to sell the house and be done with it."

"Sell the house? This house? But where will you live?" asked Omi.

"I don't know…somewhere else. Some other home," said Jack, looking at the huge house. It was too big for him. It had been too big for the three of them anyway, even when by some miracle they happened to be all together at the same time.

And yet, he couldn't see himself living in any other house. Even the apartment that his mother had chosen for him in Leipzig seemed like nothing more than a temporary setup for him to be closer to the university.

"I've never seen your home," said Omi, following Jacks gaze and looking over the house. "Other than the basement, of course."

Jack shrugged. "Well, you might as well see it while it's still mine."

They entered through the glass doors that led to the garden from the living room.

"I put glass panels because they're cheaper to repair when you guys inevitably crash through them," said Jack, tapping the reinforced glass that might as well be made of sugar whenever the monks decided to crash by.

"That is a good idea," said Omi.

"You're supposed to feel bad about tearing up my place, Omi."

"Really?"

"Forget it. Here, this is the kitchen. You hungry? I don't have much. There's some leftover cake." he opened the refrigerator and peered inside.

The birthday cake looked sad in the empty refrigerator that only had a few pudding cups and some milk jugs. He wondered if he would get maid service like usual after his parents divorced, and felt like the stupidest spoiled child. He was eighteen now, but he wanted to throw a tantrum like did when he was eight. The desire to scream and tear everything up cooled, piling down into the ever increasing rage inside him.

"Ooh, cake!" said Omi, almost drooling.

Jack took the cake, a couple of pudding cups, and some soda.

"Come, I have a better tv in my room."

They climbed the marble staircase, and Jack pointed at the doors as they passed them.

"That's mom's dressing room, dad's study, the bathroom, my parents' room, the main bathroom…"

"What is that?" asked Omi when they passed a door without Jack even mentioning it.

"Uh? That's my old room. It had a door to my nanny's room," said Jack. "I'd almost forgotten about that one."

He hesitated opening it even as he had his hand on the doorknob. After a deep breath, he turned the knob.

Inside, time seemed to have stopped back when he was nine, with even his old travel coat hanging from the back of Jeannette's chair.

"You have almost as many stuffed animals as Kimiko," pointed out Omi.

"What-! This isn't my room anymore!" hissed Jack.

"It looks like a girl's room."

"My mom decorated it. She liked pastels back then," said Jack.

After Jeannette's mess though, her mom despised them.

He closed the door. Whatever he had been expecting wasn't lurking inside. He felt a little emptiness in his chest at the realization. Of course Jeannette wasn't there. She wasn't anywhere after his mom was done with her. He smirked.

Jack's room was the one at the end of the hall. It had a king sized bed with silk black covers, a deep red carpet and goth style clothes thrown around.

"This looks more like you."

"Keep that up, we'll be best friends forever soon," said Jack, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"And you will turn to the side of good?" asked Omi with a bright smile.

"Now that's asking too much. Just take the cake, alright?"

As they sat on the middle of the bed, watching cartoons, Jack decided that was the best birthday cake he had ever had.


	23. Chapter 23

A Wu revealed itself.

The crescent fall, which magnified the user's consciousness. Chase remembered that one. Dashi had been so proud of his useless creation, that the memory made him smirk. If pressed (which he would never be, of course) he would say that he felt nostalgic about it.

But then, he also hoped to see Jack there. After Wuya's childish prank with his parents, Chase worried that it had sent Spicer over the edge. A little prodding had revealed a spark that flared up fast. But too much pushing, and Spicer might just crumble and fall apart. He wasn't nearly as driven as Omi, and had shown time and again that just a little failure was enough to sent him running away with his little monkey tail between his legs. A good teacher, as Chase knew he was, would bid his time.

But Wuya had gone and caused a mess. And now, after Spicer had missed two Showdowns, Chase felt that the little hope he had placed on him after their last battle had been too much.

The monks arrived first.

"There it is. On that tree," said Wuya, pointing at something shining on a treetop.

Chase grunted in response, and started running towards it, with Wuya close at his heels.

Then he heard a familiar sound of metal blades spinning, and he looked up to see Spicer with his helipad, flying straight towards the Shen Gon Wu at surprising speed, holding the monkey staff in one hand. Chase smirked. Not crushed yet. His ability to bounce back up after falling still remained his only quality.

Chase jumped among the trees, catching up to the monks fast. Spicer used rockets on his boots to make up for his helipad's lack of speed, and was quickly catching up to the monks, ahead of Chase.

And explosion shook the ground, sending forth pillars of fire.

Chase moved away from the blast, jumping sideways while Wuya and the monks took the full blow of it. As soon as he recovered his footing, he lifted his arm to block a blow from the monkey staff.

"And here I thought we wouldn't finish our little spat," said Chase, but Jack said nothing.

He lifted the monkey staff, trying to hit Chase, but not actually using the magic of the staff. Something was off. Very off about him.

"What? Are you still angry?" he heard Wuya say, off to the side, and chase back flipped away from Spicer to get a moment to look towards her. She was fighting another Spicer. A robot copy? Impossible. Chase could feel his life energy, and he knew he was fighting the real Spicer. The other one had to be the copy.

He dodged another blow, and punched Spicer in the face, feeling the hardness of some kind of metal that wouldn't bend under his strength. A robotic clone. But how? How could it trick Chase's supernatural senses?

Chase roared, turning into his lizard form, just as another explosion blasted him away from the Spicer clone. Off to the side, on a nearby hill, he noticed a small dark figure that was shooting the missiles around them. That had to be the real Spicer. Hiding like a coward as he always did.

The image of Spicer's determined red eyes as he approached him, telling him 'No' came back to him. _No, I won't fight like a man. No. I will fight like me._ Was this what he had meant back then?

Chase tried to run towards him, but the other Jack intercepted him, fighting him with the monkey staff, while six other robotic clones held the monks and Wuya at bay.

The figure on the hill shot three more missiles at them. Chase saw them crossing the air towards them, and he decided he had enough of Spicer's nonsense. With a roar, he opened his mouth, and crushed the robot with his great jaws, feeling the metal tearing under his fangs, circuits crashing, and something coming out of it. Black things like fleas crawling out of the insides of the robot into his face, over his skin. Hundreds of them. Thousands. Crawling all over him.

He threw the robot away, and recovered his human form, swatting the things away, crushing them with his hands. But there were so many. A swarm of them.

A light of recognition sparked in Chase's mind, and he remembered the tiny robots that Spicer had used during their last battle. The bastard was trying to blow him up again.

Chase extended his arms, calling down lightning on himself. Spicer's robots were sensitive to electricity, and he decided a little shock was better than catching another explosion like the last one. Clouds gathered, and in less than a second, Chase felt the lightning fall in front of him. Close enough to overcharge all of Spicer's silly toys. He felt them heating over his skin, prickling him like tiny needles.

He gritted his teeth. Why weren't they falling off him? Why? It was so annoying, it drove him crazy. He opened his eyes after the lightning stuck, and found them still stuck on him.

Hot.

Too hot.

They gathered, forming a strange web over him, absorbing the lightning energy and glowing.

Chase realized what was happening just half a second too late, and the nanobots released the lightning energy straight back at Chase.

The impact dazed Chase for a moment, and he dropped to his knees, coughing. Even his armor was smoking. And those damned robots were still all over him.

There was a screeching sound under all the explosions around. The missiles kept falling all around, one after the other. Chase could barely hear his own thought over the noise of the explosions and the stench of the smoke. All he could focus on was the scent of metal all over his skin.

"Spicer!" he roared, calling forth all his power, making the ground underneath tremble and crack under his feet.

And then he saw him. Gliding towards him using the same nanobots that were now all over Chase, and holding the long metal staff in one hand. And the Sphere of Yun in the other. He was even dressed differently than the other robots, with a formal short black jacket instead of his usual cloak.

Chase jumped up, ready to pounce him, when he felt a weight press down on him. All over him. Every fiber of his body pressed down to the ground with such strength that he could barely stand up.

"Spicer, you pathetic insect," said Chase, trying to move.

Jack narrowed his eyes at him, and skated around him in a wide circle, just out of Chase's reach, even if he were to use all his strength to jump on him.

Jack lifted the Sphere as he circled around Chase. His eyes surveying him, but never looking straight at Chase's face. "Sphere of Yun!" he shouted.

Chase could barely roar as the sphere sealed around him. Jack circled around him once more, checking all the details about Chase, and then, with a twirl, he left.

Not a word. Not leer, or a cackle. Could it have been another robot? This level of impersonal attack left Chase feeling like something to be crossed off a list.

Chase gasped. He _was_ something to be crossed off a list. Wuya was next.

Spicer had planned this from the start. The other robot fighting Wuya had to have been another trap. He tried to listen for Wuya's voice, but the bombs falling around were too loud. And the robots were still all over him. Stinging and hot, pinning him down like a ton of lead all over him. Chase felt like he was going insane with rage. How could Spicer have caught him like this?

He dropped to his knees, breathing deeply. Spicer had planned it all to the minimum detail. He expected Chase to tear the robot apart, to try to use lightning to destroy his nanobots. What else? That idiot Spicer couldn't possibly know him well enough to have planned for anything that Chase could do, right? Although Spicer _was_ actually borderline obsessive in his infatuation with him. Didn't he claim to be his number one fan? Had he researched and studied and observed him enough to have gotten into his head? No. Impossible. Jack couldn't possibly account for anything that someone who had lived for as long as Chase could think of.

But then, what if Jack knew it. What if he was aware that he could never catch up to Chase?

The explosions ceased, and the smoke cleared. The silence came with a strange buzzing sound, until Chase realized the strange buzzing sound was coming from _him._ From the robots over him.

He looked around, trying to establish his position, until he saw a head of bright red hair.

Spicer was sealing a long black box that looked like a metal coffin. A black metal coffin of Wuya's exact size.

Off to the size, Raimundo was caught in an electrified net, Clay was held in midair by four different robojacks, and Kimiko was trapped in a transparent, fireproof box. Only Omi stood next to Spicer as he finished sealing the coffin. He pulled at Spicer's sleeve, but Jack pushed him away, yelling something at him.

"This…not you…!" shouted Omi, but Chase couldn't make out the words over the buzzing of the robots, and the distraction of their metallic scent. It seemed like Spicer wanted to keep him occupied and with his abilities blocked off, even while inside the Sphere of Yun.

"Shut Up!" yelled Spicer, pushing Omi away. He looked like a wild animal, trapped on the edge between rage and obsession. He turned away from Omi, and glided towards the Sphere while a couple of his robots took the coffin away.

He took something out of his pocket.

The Ying Yo-Yo and the Yang Yo-Yo.

He was going to trap Chase in the Yin Yang world.

Chase gritted his teeth. He wouldn't dare. He would have to gloat all about how he had finally beaten both him and Wuya. His arrogance would bring him down soon.

But when he glided next to the Sphere, Spicer said nothing. He just looked down at the computer in his watch, and lifted the Yo-Yos

Omi kicked him. Right in the stomach, crashing on top of him and rolling on the ground, battling for control of the Yo-Yos. Spicer shook the metal spear in his left hand, and an electrick shock tore Omi off his chest. The monk rolled for a moment on the ground, but jumped back on his feet, lifting the Sphere of Yun in his hands.

"No! Don't!" yelled Spicer, just as the Sphere released Chase.

Chase laughed. "Well, that was interesting," he said. "Your best effort is commendable, Spicer."

Spicer took a couple steps back, then pressed a command on the computer at his wrist, and Chase felt the nanobots over him getting hotter. Overheating.

"You coward!" he roared, a heartbeat before the robots exploded.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone for your support. Sorry the last update was a little off. I had a few complicated days last week. In fact, all of last week was complicated, but let's not get into that.
> 
> I will now have more time to work on fics, so I'm changing the updates day to monday, wednesday and Friday starting today. I hope you are still enjoying this story, and thank you so much for your comments. Your support truly makes my day.

 

Jack flew back home on his jet, after having barely avoided the brunt of the explosion. He _had_ to figure out what made those things explode so bad. It was useful, but now he would be needing all the knowledge he could get. Chase had looked downright _murderous_ when Omi let him out of the Sphere.

He hit the steering wheel of his jet. Omi. Of all that could have gone wrong in his plan, it was the fact that he had decided to listen to fucking _Omi_ of all people.

 _'_ _This isn't you! What are you becoming?!'_ he had asked.

Becoming? What a stupid question. This is who he was. An evil boy genius. Well, not really a boy now. He would have to take that out of his title. Just evil genius from now on.

His hands shook. He was so pumped full of terror and adrenaline, he felt sick.

But at least he had gotten Wuya, who was trapped in the sealed Heylin box that Jack had prepared for her. He had designed it to work by the same principles as the puzzle box that she had been trapped in. He had also designed one for Chase, but when he tried to plan for how to get him inside it, he realized there was no way he could ever get Chase to get inside it. No, the Sphere of Yun was the only thing that could realistically contain him for long enough until he had sent him to the Yin Yang world.

Because there was no way he could leave him anywhere on earth. No, he would be tempted to gloat, to admire him, to _talk_ to him. And then he would be doomed. Absolutely doomed.

He took several deep breaths until he arrived back home. He saw the lights of the house on, and had a paranoid thought that maybe Chase was already waiting for him inside. But then he saw the bodyguards in the garden, and the family helicopter on the back, and realized his parents must be home. He wasn't ready to face any more family fights, though. He wanted to sleep so badly. Sleep and not think about what exactly he had done.

He landed his mini jet, and jumped out of the cockpit. His mom's assistant Sarah came running out of the house.

"Mr. Spicer! I have been looking everywhere for you!" she yelled, crying. "Quick, you have to come with me to London. Your father is in the hospital!"


	25. Chapter 25

Sarah was wrong.

Jack's father wasn't in the hospital. Not when Jack arrived.

When Jack arrived he was dead.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear, I guess that was too much of a cliffhanger? Sorry for that U.U I promise everything will be explained!

Jack woke up, staring at a strange ceiling. There was a stench of alcohol in the air, and people crowded around him.

"What?" he mumbled, blinking to focus his eyes. All he saw were silhouettes of people, but he could feel hands on him.

"He's alright," said Sarah's voice, and everything that had happened came back to him.

"I…I was dreaming," he said he said, smiling hysterically.

Sarah gave him a pitiful look.

He hadn't been dreaming. He had just fainted the moment he had seen his father's dead body on the hospital bed.

* * *

Jack sat on a chair in his father's hospital room, seeing his mother cry loudly while holding his hand.

"I'm sorry!" she cried, fat tears falling down her cheeks. Jack had never seen her cry like that. "Oh Lionel, I'm so sorry!"

He was crying himself, but the fact hadn't really registered in his mind. Tears just fell from his eyes as he stared at his parents, his mind an empty, quiet wasteland for once.

Dead.

His father was dead.

Someone had told him the details, but it was all a blur to him. A stroke, they said. High blood pressure, too much stress, bullshit like that, that made no sense when you were staring at your father's dead body.

A doctor entered the room. "Mr. Spicer? I'm very sorry, but we…we should remove the body," he said, and it took a moment for Jack to realize that when he said Mr. Spicer, he meant Jack. He was going to be Mr. Spicer from now on. It was crazy. His father was dead, and the world had gone crazy.

"Fuck you," he said, standing up. Because what the fuck did he expect him to do? Pull his mom away from him? Drag her out?

Sarah entered the room and ushered the doctor outside.

"Jack, it's…it's late…," she said, patting his arm. "Your mom needs to rest."

"But we can't- I mean, he…I wasn't even here," said Jack.

He had missed messages and messages. Phone call after phone call. All because he had been fighting Chase and Wuya.

And for what? Would a victory gain him a single minute to let him tell his dad- What? Would he even be able to say anything? What would he have said, even if he had arrived on time? _'I love you dad'_? _'I'm sorry'_? Something stupid like _'Don't go',_ while his heart stopped?

"Lionel, Lionel, I need you," cried his mom, and Jack felt as if he had been punched in the gut.

He should have been here. To hold her, even if he had nothing good to say. And now he was too weak to get close to her.

"She shouldn't…stay here. It's not good for her," said Sarah, offering him a handkerchief.

Jack wiped away his tears, and felt a bit of panic when he saw the cloth come out black, until he remembered he had been wearing his black eye makeup.

"I know…I know," he whispered, looking at his mom. But he was afraid that if he got any closer to her, he would have crumbled, falling apart from the inside.


	27. Chapter 27

Jack stayed with his mom in the waiting room until she fell asleep, and then let Sarah take her to a hotel. He had things to do still, and people waited around him, as if expecting him to do things he didn't even know he had to do.

He went to the bathroom to wash his face and clean up the traces of smudged makeup around his eyes. When he looked at his face on the mirror, he could barely recognize himself.

 _'_ _Now you look like a panda'_ his father had said. Jack could almost hear his voice in his head.

He cried again.

Someone entered the bathroom. A short, boney man in an ill fitting, black suit. He was followed by one of his dad's bodyguards. Jack wiped the water and the tears off his face.

"What?" he growled.

The man bowed.

"Let me express my most heartfelt sympathies for your loss, Mr. Spicer," said the man in mandarin, with a deep bow. "My name is Yong Wu, and your late father charged me with the task of guiding you through the process of dealing with the minutiae involved with his death."

"W-wha-…He…What, are you telling me he knew he was going to die?" asked Jack hysterically.

"Regardless of the fact that death is an inevitability for all of us," said Yong, taking a small envelope from his inner pocket and extending it towards Jack. "Your father had had another stroke last year, and another one just a few months ago. It was this last stroke that finally convinced him to start putting his affairs in order."

"He had a stroke? Two of them?" asked Jack, refusing to believe it. He knew that his father kept a lot of things private, but he had always thought it would be business stuff. Not things like this. "Fuck, no. Did my mom know?" he took the envelope from Yong's, and saw that his own hands were trembling.

"No. He kept his health issues only between a few select people. His doctor, the lawyer who arranged his will, and me. Given the way your family is always in the center of media attention, it was an imperative for him to keep everything as quiet as possible."

Jack opened the letter. It was handwritten, with the strong, even letters that his father always had.

_"_ _Dear Jacob,_

_If you are reading this, then I am dead. There is a lot to that I wish to tell you, and I am sure you must be shaken by the events. Still, I urge you to keep calm, because you and your mother are about to be surrounded by not only the media, but also those who would like to profit from my death._

_I know that your first instinct will be to stay with your mother and protect her, but trust me when I tell you that she is strong enough. You do not have to take care of her beyond how you have always taken care of her during her bad times._

_I have arranged everything for the both of you, and taken as many decisions as possible about what I would like to happen, but despite that, there are still things that you have to do on your own, and things that she has to do herself. If you see that your mother is having a difficult time, step in to guide her, but other than that, just be there for her._

_Following is a list of things that have to be done in chronological order. Be as meticulous as you usually are in making sure that these are done to the letter, and respecting every one of my instructions. Some of it may not make sense to you right now. But now more than ever I need you to trust me."_

After that there were two pages of itemized things to do. Get death certificate. Retrieve my belongings from the hospital. Sign hospital bill.

Jack looked at every single item, looking for anywhere that his father may have remembered to tell him that he loved him.

There was nothing.


	28. Chapter 28

The reporters were already clustering outside the hospital when Jack went to sign the hospital papers.

"Ask for three death certificates," said Yong.

"Why?" asked Jack.

"To get the body out of England and back to Hong Kong."

The body. Jack's stomach twisted and turned. He took out the letter and noticed that it already had the address for the funeral, somewhere in Hong Kong. His dad was giving him orders straight from the grave. How very in character of him. Take my body back to Hong Kong. Bury me in the family cemetery, close to my parents. Jack huffed. He wanted to get angry at him, but couldn't.

The hospital director extended his sympathies to Jack, and presented him with a small tray that contained all of his father's effects. His watch, wallet, passport, and marriage ring. Jack took the ring.

"I…I want this to-," said Jack, unable to express how he wanted it to be placed back on his father's fingers.

"I will take care of that," said Yong, putting the ring in a small envelope.

The hospital director looked at Jack with a sadness that made him feel like he was five again.

* * *

The funeral was held in Hong Kong. It was a public funeral just as his father had been a public figure. As people paraded in front of him to shake his hand and offer their condolences, Jack couldn't help but think that all these people had hold more of his father's time than he had.

"Hi, Jack," said a voice off to his side. Kimiko, dressed all in black. Behind her stood all the Xiaolin Monks, and a tall Japanese man that Jack recognized as Kimiko's father. They all looked so weird in all black, Jack was stunned into silence. Suddenly, everything seemed all too real. His family life, his Xiaolin Showdown life, they both clashed together and he hated it. He wanted them all to go away.

"We're very sorry for your loss Jack," said Kimiko, holding his hand. The other monks came to stand around him, saying that they were sorry. That they were there for him if he needed anything. Nobody else came to see him. Only they remembered him, and he felt pathetic. He only realized he had started crying again when Clay gave him a handkerchief.

* * *

The throng of people started waning by nightfall, and the Xiaolin Monks left around 8, after staying most of the day, and even bringing him and his mom something to eat. There was a full meal prepared for them on the back room, but when Omi pressed the tiny pudding cup in his hand and said 'You should eat something', Jack felt almost glad.

He let his mom handle the rest of the people. He found that he couldn't stand to be around strange faces anymore, and sat at the back of the hall, looking at her shake hands and accept words of sadness with perfectly cool calmness. His father had been right when he expected her to be stronger than Jack. He had probably only addressed the letter to him because he couldn't be sure that she wouldn't have a 'difficult time' when he died. They had long ago settled on calling her drinking binges like that.

Someone stood on the aisle next to him, and a scent of ginger and incense reached Jack's nose, sending cold terror down his back. But the terror faded sharply under the wave of freezing rage that flared up in him.

"Chase," said Jack, almost spitting out his name. The memory of the battle with him came back to him. Of all the planning he had done. All his efforts. All of the wasted time. Jack turned to look at him, feeling numb. He had no more energy to be afraid of him.

Chase narrowed his eyes at him, and Jack expected him to slap him across the face. To punch him. Anything. He didn't care anymore.

Chase bowed. "I came to present my respects to your family."

Jack scoffed. "You? Why?"

Chase bared his fangs, the way he always did when something displeased him. "It is the honorable thing to do."

"Just go away Chase. I'm so sick of you. I can't stand to see you," said Jack, barely containing his rage and struggling to whisper so no one would notice them.

"Hmph. We will settle our issues later," said Chase, turning away from him.

"We will not settle anything, Chase. Don't come back. Don't come back ever."

Chase stopped, and in a swift move, grabbed Jack's arm and twisted it painfully behind his back. Jack swallowed his pained scream. He didn't want anyone to see them, much less his mother, and the way Chase held him, they would look like they were whispering to each other to anyone who cared to glance their way.

"I am extending you a courtesy Spicer. My revenge is still to come, but we will settle this as adults, seeing as you are one now," whispered Chase, so close to Jack that strands of his hair fell over Jack's face.

And for the first time, Jack felt nothing. Nothing beyond the sharp icy rage that seemed to coat his every thought.

"Let. Me. Go."

Chase did so, and Jack stepped away from him, until he hit the wall behind him. So Chase wanted revenge? Well, so did Jack. He wanted revenge for all the time he had stolen from him. For stealing the last few hours of his father's life away from him.

"How honorable of you, giving me a day to mourn my father so you can pretend to be the high and honorable knight," spat Jack.

"Hmph. We will settle this in its due time. I will not come like a coward during the night. Unlike others," said Chase, with a pointed glare at him.

"Whatever. Scram. I can't fucking believe I was in love with you," said Jack, walking away from him.

"What?" asked Chase.

But Jack didn't look back.

He felt nothing.


	29. Chapter 29

The next couple days were a blur. Jack slept sporadically, waking up several times during the night crying, or screaming, or both.

Right after the funeral, his mother lost control over her drinking, and Jack had to convince her to stay with him at the house, where he could keep her away from the prying eyes of the press. He had to keep postponing her meeting with the management council, who demanded for them to make decisions regarding the state of the company.

And so they had to read the will.

Jack sat next to his hungover mom at the lawyers' office, going over the list of things to do that his father had left him. He was close to being done. After the will, there were only a few items left.

  * _Read my will._
  * _Make sure your mother goes over my will carefully._
  * _Take a decision regarding the management of the company._
  * _Have a meeting with the management council._
  * _Go on._



Jack bit his pen. What was that 'Go on' bullshit? Was his father trying to be deep in his own twisted way? _'Congratulations on reaching the end of the Dead Father Duties list. Now I order you to get over me and go on with your life.'_

The lawyers entered the room, and extended their condolences to them right away. Businesslike. Cold.

The oldest of them cleared his throat. He had a big yellow envelope with his father's red wax seal on it.

"We shall proceed to the reading of the will of Mr. Lionel Spicer," he said, and broke the seal, taking out the contents: Two small envelopes and a bunch of papers. "As per his wishes, he left a letter to his wife, Miranda Spicer, and one for his son Jacob Spicer. As you can see, he signed them himself."

He gave them each one of the envelopes with their names on it. Jack hesitated, tracing the lines of his name, while his mother ripped open the envelope to read it right away.

After a deep breath, Jack took out the letter and unfolded it. Hopefully it wouldn't contain any more weird ass instructions. He noted the date at the top, and realized it was barely four months ago.

Four months ago, his father prepared to die.

"Dear Jack,

If you are reading this, you should already have gone through the list of tasks that I left for you with Yong. If you have not received a letter or met up with Yong, stop whatever you are doing, and contact Mr. Yong Wu, whose contact information I have written on a card along with this letter."

Jack rolled his eyes. Yeah dad, I took care of all my duties. I'm also really sad that you're dead, but I guess you didn't think I would be.

_"If everything has gone as planned, you and your mother must be reading these letters, and you must be close to the end of the list. Thank you._

_I have finished all the details about the will. There is only the matter of reading it before witnesses, but you don't have to worry about it. I have divided everything I own along with your mother, and left everything to her and to you in equal parts, something that the both of us had discussed a few times before you were born. I anticipate that she won't have anything to say in that respect._

_Yong must have already told you that I had a stroke during mid August of this year. I can no longer ignore the fact that my health is slipping, and there are some things that keep me awake when I think that I might not have much time left, and the main ones are you and your mother._

_Especially you._

_Your mother is strong. Far stronger than you would believe, and I know you think highly of her. But I worry about you, because the more I think about all these years when I haven't seen you grow up, I realize that all that's happened is that you've retreated more and more into the confines of your own mind. Alone, with only your own thoughts for company, and I can't believe I never stopped you._

_Jack, I know that you are one of the greatest minds to have ever lived, but I also want you to be happy. I love the greatness of you, but the idea that you're locked up in the basement, retreated away from the world. I can't help but think that you're locking yourself away from us, and ended up locking yourself away from the world at the same time._

_I hope I have time to rectify this. To help you see that you're strong enough to go on. That you are not bound by us and our neglect._

_Because that is what we've been. Neglectful parents. And you deserved more than us. Better than us._

_But we live with our own decisions, and I hope I have enough time to at least make up for some of my own._

_Please go on, Jack. Please live on and be happy. I love you, and it pains me to think that I have failed as a father for you._

_If there is a heaven from which I can look down at you, nothing would make me prouder than see that you have become a better, happier man than I could ever be._

_I love you Jack. You are my pride and my hope._

_Go on."_

Jack felt a knot on his throat. Strangling him as he tried to hold back his tears.

His mother stood up, screeching in rage. She crumpled the letter, stomped on it, and stormed out of the office.

Jack didn't have enough strength to follow her. Besides, he knew where he would find her. The bar at their hotel.


	30. Chapter 30

They finished reading the will the next day. It was just as Jack's father had written down. Everything was to be divided evenly between his mom and Jack, and his mom had nothing to say about it, agreeing to everything with dispassionate weariness.

She never mentioned the contents of the letter though. Jack had picked it up after she left, but hadn't dared to read it.

The oldest lawyer presented to them copies of the will, which showed everything that was under Lionel Spicer's name. Cars (all of them would go to Jack), properties (most would go to his mom, but Jack owned the family house where he had been living, an apartment in London, and another in Hong Kong that had belonged to his grandfather and that he was urged to never sell). The weary minutiae of it all grated on his nerves. He felt like he was digging the remains of his father, and was expected to profit from it.

"Do you agree with everything?" asked the lawyer to Jack's mom.

She nodded, pushing her dark glasses up. "We had gone through this…before," she said, and shrugged. "It's the same agreement that we had settled for our div-… Whatever. Where do I sign?"

"Actually Miranda," said a female lawyer, one of his mom's lawyers. "You had decided to keep running the company together, even after the divorce. Jacob was about to go to university, was he not?"

Jack sighed, and took out his father's list, crossing off the reading of the will, and showing it to his mom.

"Make sure your mom…Oh, Lionel," said his mother as she read the crossed off items. "He knew he would piss me off with his stupid letter. Well, that was to be expected. We will discuss the management later. We need more time."

Jack nodded. He needed all the time. No way was he going to run the damn company, right?

But he couldn't read his mother's expression.


	31. Chapter 31

Curiosity got the better of Chase, for once in a few hundred years, and he went to the hotel where Jack and his mother were staying while they finished all the details about their estate.

He had always known that Jack's family was wealthy (all those robot parts were definitely not free, he was well aware of that) but it still surprised him when he realized just how wealthy they were. Spicer certainly had never acted the part of a bratty rich kid. Only a pampered and scaredy one.

"Chase! Hi!" called a voice from across the room, and Chase knew Miranda Spicer had spotted him. He rolled his eyes and went up to her at the bar. He had hoped to slip in unnoticed, but the security had been too tight. Most of it courtesy of Jack, of course. He could recognize his traps and alarms anywhere.

"Hello, Ms. Spicer. You seem well," he said.

Miranda sighed. "That's a surprise," she said. "But here, come sit with me. Jack will be down in a few minutes. He needed some alone time. Let me buy you a drink while he comes."

Chase sat down next to her and ordered a glass of wine. Better for Spicer to find them talking than for him to get any ideas of him having done something to her. Spicer seemed like a taut string. Any more pressure and he would snap. And that would not serve any of Chase's interests.

"I saw you at the funeral," she said. "Thank you for coming. I didn't approach want to approach you while you were talking with Jack, but…that was a nice gesture."

"I was only presenting my respects, ma'am. I am truly sorry for your loss. I know it must be very painful for you. You must be heartbroken."

Miranda didn't respond. She looked down at her martini glass, until tears overflowed from her eyes.

"Thank you," she said, wiping her tears away. "Thank you so much Chase. You're the first person that has told me that. And I…it's true. I don't care what anyone thinks or says. I loved Lionel. God, I still love him so much, I can't. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I think of him all the time."

Chase almost lifted an eyebrow at that. He had heard about their divorce from Omi, when he had explained Jack's anger during the battle.

Miranda kept talking. "But now that everyone knows about the divorce, they think I didn't love him. But I still loved him. Even after everything that happened."

"You were going to get divorced? Sp- Jack didn't tell me anything," said Chase. Which wasn't a lie at all.

"We were. We were finishing the details about it, but we postponed it because I couldn't go through with it. This was our third attempt at getting divorced, and we had even told Jack about it. But in the end I couldn't bear it. I begged him for us to try again. I loved him. He loved me. Or at least, he said so in his stupid letter," she said, and downed her martini. "So why couldn't we make it work? I don't know. I think…I think love just isn't enough sometimes. It won't get you through the worst of life. Hell, it didn't get us through the best of life. And we had the best of the best," she turned to look at Chase. "Love is not enough Chase. Keep that in mind now that you're young."

Chase couldn't help to smile at that, but he hid it by taking a drink of his wine.

"You will remember my words some day," she said. "Oh, but you seem like such a serious and responsible young man. You will make someone very happy some day. I'm so happy that Jack met you somehow. I feel like you're good for him, even if Lionel disliked you. But I think Lionel thought I was hitting on you," she said.

Chase nearly choked on his wine. "H-he what?" he sputtered.

She stood up, and wobbled a little on her feet. The smell of alcohol from her was overwhelming. "Oh, don't worry. We each used to think the worst of each other most of the time. And the best of each other occasionally. It was enough for a time. But then it was not. Being a parent, you're supposed to be the best you can be. And we never could. It's a sad thought. That I failed as a mother. But I guess you have to live with your decisions, and hope for the best." She patted his arm. "Now, where is that boy? I bet he's still fighting with the management board. Ah~ I don't deserve him. You wait here just a minute."

She passed a hand through her hair, and left with wobbly steps.

Chase stayed at the bar, looking at his reflection on the glass. A failure as a mother. That was an interesting thought. And one that he had never thought of. He thought back to the tiny green tunic back at his lair. When he had gone back home, that was the only thing that he had found. No traces of his mother, or his father, and his older brother Eon had never mentioned them again.

What would Eon tell him now? Nothing, probably. And how could Chase ever breach the topic anyway?

Did our mother ever tell you that she felt like a failure when I switched to the side of evil? Not a good conversation starter.

And in the end, she might not have said anything at all. He dug back into the farthest memories of his childhood, but all he could remember of her was a silent figure. Observing. Closed off into herself.

If Miranda Spicer was a raging fire of highly destructive motherly affection, Chase's mother had been a silent rock of motherly presence. It was there. Dependable. Cold.

In truth he hadn't thought about how she would feel about his shift to the evil side, because you didn't usually consider the feelings of a rock.

He could almost feel Eon's judgmental stare down his back. But then again, Chase would just laugh at him. See? I was evil from the start, he would tell him.

Eon would be so disappointed.

"That wasn't much time at all," said Spicer, approaching him.

Chase's eyes went straight at his right hand, where he held the extendable metal spear that he had used the last couple times they had fought.

"I didn't come to fight you Spicer. You can put that down," he said, taking a sip from his glass.

"Oh, so you just dropped by for a nice chat?" he asked, but the anger in his voice flaked around the middle.

Miranda's words came back to Chase's mind. 'Love is not enough'. And when he looked in Jack's eyes, he thought that maybe that was what Jack had realized.

"Sit down Spicer, you're attracting too much attention," said Chase, motioning to the seat next to him at the bar.

Jack grumbled, but did as he was told. The barman approached them, asking if he could offer him anything. Jack hesitated.

"Uhm, a mineral water please," he said without much conviction.

The barman lifted his eyebrows at him.

"Didn't you hear him?" growled Chase.

The barman paled, but left to fetch it for Jack.

"Well, aren't you acting out the gentleman part now?" said Jack. "I'm not my mother, you know? I know you're not a gentleman. You're not even human."

"It never seemed to bother you before," said Chase, trying to pretend like he didn't care about his words.

The barman returned with Jack's water. "Hmph. I was stupid back then," he said.

"You were a lovestruck fool," said Chase, and delighted in the way Jack actually did choke on his water.

He turned to Chase, with a completely red face. "F-fuck you," he said, and looked away.

"So you were," said Chase.

"Was. In the past, and it doesn't matter anymore," said Jack. "Anyway, what do you want?"

Chase swirled his wine. What did he want? To keep pressing on Spicer's buttons? To see if he had truly become strong, or had just given up on everything?

"Free Wuya," he said. It seemed like a good thing to ask for. He was planning to free her himself, after all.

"What? No way," said Jack, shaking his head.

"I can free her myself. I am merely extending you a courtesy, considering your silly interest in me."

"Well then don't extend me no shit. There's no way I'll free Wuya, and there's no way you'll free her yourself," said Jack. "And I don't need your pity."

Chase scoffed at him. "Pity? Aren't you supposed to be my number 1 fan? You better than anyone should know. I feel no pity."

"Then…why?"

Why indeed. Chase wondered that himself.

"Respect," he said finally, and it wasn't a lie. It was just half of the truth. "You have become worthy of respect as an opponent."

"Respect," repeated Jack, looking down at his glass of water. He took a deep breath, and then looked up at the great mirror behind the bar. "You know what's funny, but not really? I don't care. I feel nothing. Nothing at all. Is this how you felt? All those times I threw myself at your feet?"

"No," said Chase. Confusion. Anger. Hope. Disappointment. He had felt a lot of things. Most of them bad.

"Whatever. Look, if you really want to be a honorable knight, just go and…give me more time," said Jack, getting up and walking away from Chase.

Chase gritted his teeth. More time? For what? To keep dying inside?


	32. Chapter 32

Jack almost tore off the tie he wore as soon as he entered his house. He felt like a monkey dressed up in a costume for the amusement of the management board of his parents' company.

Which, considering how fond he was of turning into an actual monkey by using the monkey staff, wasn't so far from the truth. Chase would probably get a good laugh at him now. Or not. Maybe he would just scoff at him and tell him how pathetically disgusting he was.

He bit his lower lip. His emotions had started coming back to him. Slowly and randomly. The numbness and the cold rage had overtaken him for a while, but now he had spells of silent crying followed by moments of hysterical laughter. It made him dizzy most of the time.

Jack passed a hand through his hair. It had gotten a bit too long for him, and he had caught a few of the assistants of the management board members staring at it judgmentally during the meeting. Because of course, none of the big guys wanted to even speak to him unless his mother was present.

He took off his suit jacket and threw it over a chair. Black suit. Black shirt and tie, and whole black leather gloves. Mourning suited him better than normal life.

His gaze fell over the empty space where the coffee table had been, and the events of that day flashed before his eyes again.

He closed his eyes and shook his head to ward against those thoughts.

Instead, he focused on the glasses upturned on the sofas.

As he climbed the stairs, he found a broken glass near the stairs, and had to take a moment to sweep up as much glass as he could. Everywhere in the house stank of alcohol now, and his mother had been there for only three days.

Three days, drinking constantly.

In a way, her state had kept Jack from falling apart himself. Because hell knew how much he wanted to cling to her and cry his eyes out, and wait until she solved his life, and hers, and they would both go back to their previous lives.

Jack opened the door to his mom's bedroom, and found that she had fallen asleep crying while holding on to one of his father's shirts. Jack sat down on the bed next to her.

 _'_ _Did you anticipate this in your list dad? Why is there no –Comfort your mom- item in it?'_ he thought, patting her hair.

Jack wondered how much alcohol was enough to kill you. He wondered how long alcoholics tended to live.

The word shook him. He and his father had never called it that. His mother just had 'difficult times', or 'bad days'. But now he had to call her what she was. She was an alcoholic. And she would continue to be one, until suddenly she wasn't, and Jack became an orphan.

And he would have to go through all of this again. Alone.

His mother stirred, and opened her eyes. "Jack? You're…back early," she said, but couldn't push herself up.

Jack held her hand. "Mom…If I asked you to get help, would you do it?" he asked.

 _'_ _Please say yes. Please say you'll do it, so I don't have to force you,'_ he thought.

Because he was not letting her drink herself to death right before his eyes.

Like his father did.

"I don't want to leave you alone," whispered his mom, holding his hand.

"Then, please get help."

They stayed in silence for a moment. Together.

"I will. I will do it. I love you dear."


	33. Chapter 33

Jack couldn't stand to live in the main house anymore. He couldn't explain it or rationalize it. He just found that he couldn't stare at every place that he had shared with his parents and not break down crying while he was alone.

And so, he closed it up. He packed everything that was left in his basement to send it over to Leipzig, and closed up the house. Sarah asked him if he wanted to sell it, saying that she would take care of everything once his mother was set up in rehab. But he found that he couldn't bring himself to sell it either.

In a way, it was like his teenage love for Chase. It hurt to look at it, to be trapped in it. But he couldn't bear to cut it away for good. He wanted to keep it close. Not close enough that it hurt, but close enough that he could still own it.

He kept only his robots. The clothes he had been wearing, and the few things he had helped his mom pack. He felt like he was running away. Escaping from everything and nothing at the same time.

"Don't watch the news," suddenly said his mom, sitting next to him in the limo. "They will be awful about this."

"I won't," said Jack. He hadn't brought a tv to his new apartment for that very reason, but he knew that the reporters would crowd around his apartment as soon as his mother was in rehab. He couldn't keep the press away. Especially with how long the meeting with the management board was taking.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Jack sighed. He knew she was sorry. But he still found she had drank half a bottle of whiskey before they left.

It hurt.

"I know, mom," he said.

"Will you really be alright?" she asked.

"Of course," he lied.

He wouldn't be alright. He didn't want to run the company. He didn't want to be on his own. He didn't want to live.

Life was difficult and sad, and it terrified him to know that he found it all too reasonable for his mom to try to drown out the world with alcohol.


	34. Chapter 34

The press was surprisingly easy to avoid. Jack just ordered more security, and commuted from his apartment to the university on the limo.

He arrived at the university lab intent on explaining to the professor that due to obvious reasons, he would not be enrolling, nor participating in their joint research project.

But he found a black bow atop the entrance to the lab, and his resolve to face the professor vanished.

"Jacob?" asked a voice behind Jack.

He turned around and found the professor carrying a bunch of books and files. He pushed his glasses up, and gave Jack a one armed hug.

"I'm sorry," said Jack, trying to stop himself from crying, and failing. "I…It's just that," he tried to explain that no one called him Jacob anymore. It was always Mr. Spicer this. Mr. Spicer that. And now he was crying because some old man had called him some stupid name that he hated, but that he could hear so clearly in his head with his father's voice.

The professor took him inside before anyone could see him, and made no comments about Jack's tears.

"I've spoken with the headmaster, and you won't have to worry about the press when you come. We're working on securing the campus," he said, pressing a cup of coffee on Jack's hands.

"I…don't think I will be enrolling," said Jack, calming down. "I'm very sorry. I know how important this is, but…My mother has had some health problems, and I have to take over the company."

He got ready for the 'I'm so disappointed in you' lecture. He didn't need it. He had been disappointed in himself ever since he could remember.

"I see…Of course your mother must be your first priority. It is a great sadness, since your father said you were very interested in starting a research project with us."

"He said that?"

"Well, when he called to invite me to the minister's party in Austria a few months ago, he said you were very interested in seeing me. He even sent me the plane ticket to assist."

Jack turned the coffee mug in his hands. The party, of course. His father had gone to collect Jack himself. And that must have been…

Jack put all the dates together, matching all the events. All things considered, the party in Austria had taken place just a couple weeks after his father's second stroke.

And after the party, at the hotel, his father had told him the same thing he had written in his letter.

_" Jacob_ _, I have to say, I'm worried about you. You are almost a man and...I just want to know you will be alright."_

Jack took out the list of things to do. He had crossed off "Take a decision regarding the management of the company." But he hadn't taken a decision. Not really. He had cornered himself into a decision.

He looked at the last item of the list. "Go on."

_"_ _I just want to know you will be alright"_


	35. Chapter 35

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the delay. I was off on vacations for a while!

The very next day he sat at a wide conference room with no windows. He wore a three piece suit, shirt and tie, and even gloves as his father used to. Unlike his father, he dressed all in black.

"As you can see in the copies of the will I have prepared for you," said Jack. "My father left half of the company to me, and half of it to my mother. It was expected though, that my mother would take over the management of the entire company."

A murmur went around them. Jack had anticipated it. After all, his mom had her own company, and the idea that it would take over his father's would not be welcome. Well too bad. He didn't have time for their whining.

"Regrettably, my mother has health issues that prevent her from working right now. She has thus, left the management of both her company, and Spicer Industries to me until she can recover her health."

Jack let them process the information for a moment, and leaned back on his seat.

Why had anyone decided to make this stupid windowless conference room? Once everything was formalized, he was going to turn this room into a warehouse, and have a proper conference room with an entire wall made of windows.

"Does this mean that you intend to take the position of both your parents now?" Asked a man in a perfectly pressed gray suit. Jack recognized him as Daniel Smith, the major shareholder after his father. He held 20% of Spicer Industries. A far cry from Jack's 70%, but still a man that even his father had dared not cross.

"Not at all," said Jack, entwining his gloved fingers. "As you know, my interests lie completely in robotics research and engineering. As such, I will only hold the position temporarily in name only, for as long as it takes my mother to recover her health. I will set up an interim management team that will report back to me while I enroll in a study course at Leipzig University. There will be no major changes in both companies regarding management style at the moment. I am merely a placeholder until my mother recovers her health."

Jack kept speaking, talking about the way he planned to set up the management of the companies, but it felt like he was seeing everything from outside his own body, seeing himself speak with rehearsed words, his face devoid of all emotion.

It was easier this way. A clear path empty of all emotions.


	36. Chapter 36

Jack arrived at his apartment to realize that he had only boxes as furniture. He facepalmed. He had completely forgotten to buy furniture. Or food. Or anything at all.

He pushed boxes and bags away. They contained stuff that had been in the basement, but that wouldn't be worked on right now at the lab.

"Fuck my li~fe," he whined, dropping to the floor next to a pile of boxes marked '?'. He couldn't remember what the hell he had packed anywhere. At that point he had just set his robots to dismantle everything and put it on boxes. Setting everything up again was going to be hell. He just knew it.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.

And he smelled it. Spices, and vanilla, and something sharper. The scent of Chase. He jumped up, taking his metal staff from where it was attached to his leg and extended it.

"Chase I know you're here," he said, and knew right away how stupid it sounded.

Chase would not give himself away so easily. Could it be that he had left? Had he come looking for clues of where Jack had hidden Wuya? Jack took out his cell phone and called his mom's assistant. She had quickly shifted to being his own assistant, as much of the job was his now.

"Mr. Spicer?" answered a groggy voice.

"Sarah check the surveillance tapes of the house for today. Report back to me with anything you find, but do _not_ let anyone else see them."

He didn't want the police to get involved, in case Chase had seen fit to trash his house when he didn't find Wuya.

Jack hung up before Sarah could tell him anything else, and looked everywhere around him carefully, finally noticing something on the kitchen counter. He approached it with hesitant steps.

It looked like an open box. Jack peered inside and found a letter written with perfect Chinese calligraphy.

_"_ _I took the monkey staff. You have until morning to give back Wuya."_

Jack let himself relax. Chase wasn't in the apartment. The bastard had just come to piss him off.

Because of course he didn't care about a simple Shen Gon Wu like the monkey staff. He had come to get Wuya, and took it as an extra fuck you to him. Jack didn't even know why he had kept the thing anyway. He was done with hunting Shen Gon Wus. He was done with Xiaolin and Heylin both. He grabbed the letter and crushed it. Then he threw it out the window, and went on to pile enough boxes to make himself a decent surface to sleep on.

"Enjoy it!" he yelled into the night.

He hated Chase. He hated the monkey staff. And he hated himself for keeping it, and bringing it along with him.

And for keeping the house. And for keeping a cozy, small place in his heart for the idealized vision of Chase that he had revered for his entire childhood. A place where his feelings for him could resettle, once the numbing ice inside him started to melt.


	37. Chapter 37

Sarah was at his door the next morning, with donuts, coffee strong enough to wake the dead, and babbling about a huge lizard getting into the house and making a mess.

"I mean, it looked like it was looking for something," she kept talking, while Jack checked the jelly fillings of the donuts. He only liked the banana cream ones, but Sara hadn't brought a single one of them.

"Uhuh," mumbled Jack. The movers asked him where they could put the bed, and he led them to the main bedroom.

"It was huge. And the worst part is that I honestly have no idea where it came from. One moment the house was empty –and I know it was. I checked every single camera- and then boom. Lizard!"

Jack laughed humorlessly. It really sounded crazy when told like that. Did he sound like that when he talked about the Showdowns and the Shen Gon Wus? He supposed he did.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, so I brought the footage with me."

"No, no, I believe you. I knew something like that would happen. Don't worry about that," said Jack, biting on a donut that he didn't like as the movers set up furniture around the house. He felt like he was trapped in some wacko nightmare that just wouldn't end.

"You knew a giant lizard would break into your house?" she asked.

"Hnghyeeah. I mean sort of. Anyway, delete the footage. The original and all copies. Then have the security company set up cameras in every room here.

He was under no delusions that they would help in any way against Chase, when the inevitable confrontation happened, but he had put together a pretty nice defense plan for himself. He just needed to find some spare parts, and set up a decently sized bunch of jackbots.

The doorbell rang, and Sarah went on to answer the door, while Jack finished his coffee and started measuring the windows.

"It's for you Mr. Spicer," she said, handing him a letter and a small, rectangular package. "From Mr. Chase Young. Isn't he one of your friends?"

Jack's blood ran cold. He snatched the package from Sarah's hands, and opened it. Inside was a necklace of pearls.

"That looks like-" started Sarah, but Jack already knew that it was his mother's necklace.

The letter had Chase's perfect calligraphy.

_"_ _Perhaps an exchange might interest you?"_


	38. Chapter 38

It had been very easy to snatch Miranda Spicer from the hospital. Too easy. If this was the care that Jack had with those he loved, Chase was deeply disappointed.

Now she slept under one of Chase's spells, on a luxurious divan near the entrance. Finally.

Chase had waited for almost an hour for her to fall into a deep sleep. It had never happened. She kept getting up to pace around the bare room where she was held, or just sitting in her bed and crying.

As he watched, Chase wondered how his own mother might have reacted in the same circumstances.

She wouldn't have become an alcoholic, for one, so Chase found the whole thing hard to imagine. Very hard. Especially since when he thought of it, he saw her instead sitting next to Miranda's bed, waiting in her usual stony silence. Unmoving. Inexpressive. A stone statue with long, jet black hair who looked down at you with all seeing eyes.

He had snatched her then. Casted a sleeping spell, and stolen her without any of the cameras seeing. Oh, he had let himself be filmed by the cameras in Jack's house after he hadn't found a trace of Wuya's box there, just to send a message. But this time he was nothing but a shadow vanishing under the moonlight.

And it was Jack's turn. He could feel him approaching, and opened the doors to his lair for him.

"Spicer, I expected you sooner," said Chase, lying to press his buttons. He had expected him later. Much later. After his rage had awakened the fighting spirit in him. Instead, he was here, barely hours after he had received Chase's letter. Holding only the metal spear he had from before.

Jack's eyes went right to the sleeping form of his mother near the fountain.

"She is only asleep. As soon as you give me back Wuya, you may take her away, and she won't even know that anything has happened," said Chase.

Jack shot him a furious glare. "Is this your idea of honor?" he asked, walking slowly towards Chase's throne. "Kidnapping defenseless women in the middle of the night?"

Chase stood up. "I have been more than gracious with you."

"You have been a jerk," yelled Jack. "You pushed me away and humiliated me for years, but as soon as I reject you, you purposefully go out of your way to torture me and to mess with the only thing I truly cared about."

"This is not about you."

More lies. It was all about him, but Chase had only just realized it.

"I don't care! I don't care about anything you say anymore. You don't understand how emotions even work. A _rock_ has more empathy than you! And now I'm getting rid of you for good," said Jack, lifting the spear.

Chase readied his stance for fighting. He was ready to fight and dodge the small robots that Jack seemed to be so fond of. But instead, Jack hit the floor with the butt of his spear, sending a sound reverberating all over the lair. Chase's cats screeched, paralyzed in terrified pain as the whole structure of the cave cracked all around them. A hole opened under Jack, the floor crumbling into nothing.

Jack jumped back, and glided in the air with the same grace as he would have while skating on ice. Chase knew there was something on his shoes. Something that glowed dimly with a slight buzz that Chase –somehow- had missed. But Chase didn't have any more time. He jumped, transformed, and tried to claw at anything that he might get his claws on. At the periphery of his vision, he saw Jack pulling up his mother and covering her in his long black coat. And like a stage magician, he shook the coat once, and his mother vanished.

Chase jumped, trying to pounce on Jack, but the redhead glided away, skating over the floor, hitting here and there with the end of his spear. Everywhere he touched with it sent the same maddening shrill noise and caused the ground underneath to ripple and fall apart into dust. Chase had no idea how he was doing it, but Jack had found a way to poke holes and disintegrate matter itself with his spear. Chase looked on in horror as marble and metal equally crumbled wherever Jack touched them. The lair itself would collapse in any moment. And, being inside a volcano, Chase knew if the cracks on the structure went deep enough…

He intercepted Jack, and backslapped him across the face with such force that Jack fell backwards on the floor.

"Fool!" shouted Chase, as pillars fell under the weight of the ceiling all around them. "You will trap us here!"

Jack pushed himself up, and took off his coat. "No. I'm trapping _you_ here," he said, and draped the coat around himself, just as he had covered his mother.

Chase roared, but even as the tips of his claws grazed the fabric of the coat, it melted, dripping down on the ground as a black liquid. It was some kind of portal, proofed so that once Jack was gone, it would self destroy. Once more Spicer proved the best at sneaking away.

Chase's cats yelped, running over the cracked floor and jumping over the widening holes, looking for a way out. Chase ordered that the door opened, but it only shook, held closed by something from the outside. Chase banged on the door, but it wouldn't open, and his cats yowled as the temperature on the lair rose. The cracks on the structure had reached the lava pit below, and it was eating away at everything on its path.

Chase gave a hysterical laugh. Jack had done it.

He had finally bested him in wit, knowing that he could never best him in might. He had turned into a force that destroyed everything in his way. He had become what Chase had always wanted him to become.

And it was going to destroy him.

One of his cats scratched at his leg, bringing him back into focus. Chase centered his mind.

The lair was done for. He needed to get out. The door was sealed with some kind of alloy that his powers couldn't destroy.

Up.

The top of the mountain was simple rock that he could punch through, and the ancient lava conducts would lead him to the point where the dome was thinner. He commanded his cats to climb up. To follow the lava ducts. He just had to grab the Shen Gon Wu he still had, and make a run for it.

His mind went through anything else he had to take with him.

Scrolls, books, weapons… He had no time for anything other than his sword and the Shen Gon Wu, and- His thoughts went to the tunic left in the vault, two levels bellow.

He ran to get it.


	39. Chapter 39

Jack dragged his feet to the elevator and pressed the button to his mother's penthouse. As the doors closed and the elevator ascended, he retracted his spear so that it fit in his pants pocket. He let himself fall against the mirrored walls of the elevator and took a tired look at his face. His haggard and bruised reflection stared back at him with dead eyes. At some point after he had started destroying Chase's lair, he had had a moment of clarity. Of his emotions leaving way for that delicious numbness that he seemed trapped in, and letting him think rationally.

There was an ugly bruise where Chase had slapped him, and Jack knew that it would get even darker and uglier by morning. He always bruised horribly at the most minimal touch.

Still, the fact that he hadn't punched Jack's lights out was a small miracle on itself. The slap had in fact cleared away the numbness in Jack's head.

 _"_ _You will trap us both here!"_

He was going to, yes. He had thought it out clearly in his head, driven by the same cold rage that he had come to rely on, just to get through every day.

But when Chase had slapped him, he had felt scared. Scared of dying along with Chase, and leaving everything behind. His mom, his future at the university, the list that his father had left him…He would be gone, leaving nothing behind but a mother that he had failed as a son. And when he saw his father, beyond death, what could he have told him? _Sorry. I couldn't do it. I couldn't go on._

He had planned to grab on to Chase, letting his nanobots hold them together until the lava consumed them.

But he had been afraid, and ran away at the last moment, through the portal that he had woven into his coat. He had designed it for a single use, using the same technology as he had with his time machine, but limiting it to only spatial movement. His arrival had been wrong by a lot, and he had fallen on the concrete a block away from the penthouse he had sent his mother to, but he was sure that she had had a safe landing.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to the penthouse. Now he had to trust that Chase hadn't found a way out of the lair before the lava consumed everything.

Who was he kidding? Chase most surely had found a way out. The bad guy wasn't dead until you saw the body, and Chase was a 1,500 years old immortal with unimaginable power. No way had he stayed inside and waited to die.

He was probably out and looking for him right now, and Jack had only a few hours to prepare some kind of defense.

He opened the door to the master bedroom, and saw his mother sleeping peacefully on the middle of the bed, just where Jack had set the delivery coordinates. He sat on the bed next to her. On his pants' pocket he still had the letter that his dad had left for his mom. He had carried it with him, telling himself that he would have the strength to read it one day. Well, considering this might as well be his last living day, he would have to read it now, even though he felt weaker than ever.

 _"_ _If you are reading this Miranda, I am dead. Seems like a silly thing to point out, but how else could I start a letter like this? Either way, I hope you are fine and still have many years ahead of you. I hope Jack is fine too. I worry so much for him. It keeps me awake most nights. I've failed you as a husband too, I know. But by the time you're reading this, I hope we are already divorced._

_I loved you Miranda. I love you still, and believe me that I will love you to my last moments. But we're terrible for each other. We have become terrible people, and even worse parents. Now that I am gone, please find a nice man who can take care of you and doesn't turn his eyes away when you drink too much, or stays at the office when Jack is being hard to deal with. Someone better than me, even if they're poor._

_I'm leaving you half of everything so you don't have to worry about money, and Jack half of everything so hopefully between the love that you two have for each other, you will take decisions for the good of each other._

_I love you Miranda, and my only regrets are that I couldn't be a better husband to you, and a better father for Jack._

_Could you tell him I'm sorry? I'm so sorry for everything. But especially all the time with you both that I wasted away._

_I was too scared to write it in his letter."_


	40. Chapter 40

Chase awaited at the top of the skyscraper next to the one where Jack was staying. He was unharmed after having escaped the blazing inferno of his lair with only minor scratches.

But the heat had singed the edges of the tunic, and that was wound enough.

 _"_ _He was wrong,"_ said his brother Eon's voice, echoing so clearly in Chase's head that he had to look around to convince himself he wasn't there.

 _"_ _He was wrong,"_ came again the voice.

Chase growled low in his throat. "He wasn't," he said, because Eon's voice wouldn't leave him alone otherwise.

 _"_ _You were always the more emotional one,"_ said Eon. _"But she felt just as much."_

"I don't care," said Chase, clutching the tunic in his hands, just as they slowly turned into claws.

_"_ _You do. And that proves that he is wrong. Your soul is as human now as it ever was, and it waits with us."_

Chase stood, clawing at the voice of Eon, but he could hear it echoing all around him.

"It's not!" he roared. "It never was!"

"Chase! Chase!" called a female voice from the top of the skyscraper in front of him. Soft. Almost like a whisper right into his head.

He looked in front of him, and saw an unmoving figure with long black hair floating in the wind.

"Chase…," she whispered to him without opening her mouth.

"Someone went a little bonkers," said Dojo's voice behind him. "I mean, you already were, but yelling alone while stalking Spicer? That's next level wacko."

"Can you see her?" asked Chase.

He knew that Dojo was real. He could feel him moving against the world, and his scent filled his nose.

The woman standing on the other building though. She had no scent, no presence in the world. Nothing more than a shadow with hair fluttering in the wind.

And the same face that she'd had back when she had tucked Chase to bed.

"Can't say I do. Does she look like someone you know?" asked Dojo, raising himself to look over Chase's form.

"Yes. My mother."

"Well now. No wonder Dashi sent me here," said Dojo.

That made Chase turn around. "What?"

Dojo extended a roll of parchment towards Chase. "I get messages from him sometimes. For important things. Spirit messaging isn't easy to work with. I wrote it down for you, but don't ask for an explanation. I didn't get one either."

Chase took the message, and Dojo unrolled his giant form, taking to the skies.

"Take a day off. All that scheming and stress is bad for your skin," said Dojo, flying away.

Chase only grunted as he opened the message.

_"_ _Chase:_

_Let him go. Let him have his life back. What are sixty years to you?"_

Nothing. Everything. The way Jack's will to live kept fading away, he wouldn't last even half a century. He would waste away among his machines and his calculations, and for the first time Chase thought that would be a terrible waste.

But he couldn't tear him away from his life. Not with that silent figure still observing him like that. Nor could he offer to give him the Lao Men Long soup. This endlessness of time passing him by. This haunting by your own missing soul and the souls of everyone around him were too much to inflict on anyone but himself.

He sighed, and looked back down at the message.

_"_ _I know what you're thinking. I know his power interests you, and for you to consider turning him into something like you is almost kindness from you._

_But in truth you would destroy each other. The unmovable object creating the unstoppable force. A sad ending to both of you. Especially when his best is yet to come._

_Let it go Chase._

_I know someone who thinks so too. She still looks down and grieves for you."_

Chase crumpled the message, and looked up to the silent figure in front of him.

"You won't say anything?" he asked with a growl. "Even now, you let others say your words?"

The apparition extended a hand at him, and for a moment Chase thought he could see the vaguest hint of an expression on her face.

Grieving.

Then her hair covered her face, and she faded into the night.


	41. Chapter 41

Jack had spent most of the night alternating between crying himself to sleep, and waking up screaming from night terrors.

Even after a bomb went off in the third floor, signaling Chase's arrival could he muster enough strength to get up from the living room carpet where he had collapsed after reading his father's letter.

He was sticking with his last resort plan. If only because he was sure nothing else would kill Chase.

The light of dawn filtering through the curtains woke him up after a small fit of restless sleep.

"You left some clever tricks for me," said Chase's deep voice.

Jack's eyes snapped open. He was still lying on the living room carpet, and looking up at Chase as he sat in one of the couches. He wore a traditional Chinese black suit and looked down at Jack with a bored expression.

Jack tried to stand up, but found his legs and arms bound.

"Don't hurt her!" cried Jack.

Chase lifted an eyebrow at him. "I won't. In fact, while you slept I brought her back to the complex where she was."

"What?"

"If you would be quiet for once," said Chase, reaching for a cup of tea on the coffee table. "I could explain myself."

Jack grunted, but said nothing more.

"I have come to bring you a gift that I thought you might appreciate," said Chase. "If you are smart."

Jack looked at the corners of the room on the ceiling, noticing that all his lasers had been crushed or torn apart. His gaze went to the bombs underneath the chairs, but those had been removed too. His mind raced down the list of traps he had prepared, when Chase grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up to look straight at him.

"Hey. I'm talking to you. Don't try anything. I disabled all of your little toys," said Chase.

"Then why did you tie me up?" asked Jack.

"Because you have proved a formidable opponent during our last encounters."

Jack's heart fluttered at that, and he hated himself all the more. His stupid heart was the source of all his problems. He wanted it to stop loving Chase, to stop loving his mom, to stop missing his dad. As soon as he could, he was implanting his consciousness into a cyborg. He made a mental note to do so as soon as he could. If and only if he survived this encounter with Chase, of course.

"Wow, that's a lot of praise coming from you," said Jack.

"Indeed. You should be grateful," said Chase with a smirk that made Jack's heart jump wildly. "But that is not the gift I came to give you."

"Is it the gift of a fast and painless death?"

"No."

"Can I exchange the gift for a fast and painless death?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Shut up or I'll gag you," said Chase, letting go of him and letting him fall back down on the carpet.

Jack cried out when his head hit the carpet, and he saw double for a few moments. As soon as he could focus on Chase though, he saw that he was glaring down at him.

"You're trying to win time," said the warlord.

Busted.

"Naah~," said Jack, wiggling away from him.

Chase sighed, and that made him stop. Jack had never heard him sigh like that. Tired and disappointed at the same time.

"What are you trying now?" asked Chase.

Jack looked away. ' _To die and drag you down with me to hell,_ ' he thought.

"Nothing. The ropes are just too tight," said Jack, making a pained face.

"I know you are trying something. The day you can best my warrior perception has not come yet, Spicer. Despite the capacity I have seen from you. But I will let it pass for now," said Chase, sitting back down. "What I have come to give you is the gift of my forgiveness."

"What?"

"I intend to forgive and forget all of our recent fights, if you would do the same in return," said Chase, entwining his fingers in his lap.

"J-Just…like, making peace? You have got to be kidding me," said Jack. All he had to do was click his heels together a little more. Then give the order, and they would both blow up. He could even take down the whole building, now that his mother wasn't in there anymore. And yet, he wasn't sure he could trust Chase to have really taken his mother back to the rehab complex.

"I am not. I'm sure you know I am not one to _kid_ with you," said Chase. "As I see it, we will both destroy each other in little time. I could kill you right now, of course. But that seems like a waste of your… _potential._ "

"So you want me to work for the Heylin side?" asked Jack, suddenly unsure of where he stood. He could not go back to fighting with either the Heylin or the Xiaolin, but if Chase truly wanted to take him under his wing…There were a million things to learn from him. The sheer knowledge he must have amassed throughout the years was enough to tempt Jack.

"I didn't say that. I did not come here to recruit you, nor to make any promises beyond that of us leaving this conflict behind. It would do me no good to keep fighting you, and you need more time than I could wait for an impending battle with you."

"Uhmmm, uhmmm…I…Are you serious?" asked Jack. Chase narrowed his eyes at him. "Of course, of course you're serious. It's not like you've made a joke in the last thousand years. But…I mean…Why?"

Chase stood up. "Why? Perhaps one day, I'll tell you why," he said. "But not today. Today, I would like for you to accept my gift. And to live."

Jack felt his blood run cold. "L-live?" he mumbled.

Chase gave him a knowing look. "Do you accept, Spicer?"

Jack took a deep breath. "I…yes. Yes, I accept."

Chase turned around, and without another word, left the penthouse.


	42. Chapter 42

It took a few hours for Jack to get himself free from the ropes that Chase had used. It involved a lot of crawling pathetically around, some pained whining, and a rat or two. But the moment Jack was free, he called the rehab clinic and demanded to talk to his mom.

"Oh, dear I had the weirdest dream last night," she said.

"Heh,heh. Really?" said Jack, feeling all strength leave his body at the relief he felt from hearing his mother's voice.

He let himself fall down on the bed.

"Yes. I dreamed that this tiny Chinese lady sat next to me all night. She didn't say anything. She just sat there with me while I chatted with her. But when she left, she was smiling. Do you think it means something dear?"

Jack tried to think of anything. "Hmm, not really, no."


	43. Chapter 43

Jack hoped that his mom would get herself clean, and come out of rehab like the version of herself that he always dreamed of. Upbeat and energetic and loving, all without the need to drink around the clock.

In reality, she had to go back to rehab again and again. She would come out and do well for a while. She stayed with Jack for a few days, until her desire for freedom led her to travel around the world and take care of every aspect of her life. Running two companies, dealing with the press, catching dinner with Jack, and pamper herself at a spa.

But eventually it would be too much. Too much energy spent, not enough rest, too much pressure from the media or the investors, and Jack would be called into her house by her assistant.

 _"_ _Your mom had a bit of a hard day. Could you come see her?"_ Sarah would ask on the phone, and Jack's heart would sink to the floor.

Then it was back to the shouting and the throwing things around, until Jack could convince her to get help again. He would sit down with her, and tell her that she hadn't failed, and he loved her anyway.

And that was true, but most of the time she refused to believe it.

Still, every time she relapsed, she could last sober longer than the last time, until Jack called her to invite her to his graduation ceremony, and realized that it had been a full year since he had received a call from his mom's assistant. He smiled as he looked at his planner and crossed off the "Call mom" pending item.

"It really took you four years to complete your silly studies?" asked a deep voice next to him, and Jack looked up at Chase.

Jack had noticed him a few times during these last few years. Hanging on the periphery where only Jack's remote sensors could notice him. He hadn't fully trusted him at first, and lived in a paranoid state, setting traps and sensors and having multiple plans of attack and escape.

Even now, his heart jumped with equal parts terror and excitement.

"Ch-Chase, hey," stuttered Jack. "What a surprise to see you here. Weren't you going to, uhm…leave me alone?"

Chase lifted an elegant eyebrow. He wore a black silk changsam with red embroidery.

"I never said that," he said.

A waiter brought a teapot for him. Jack bit his lip and kept his eyes firmly on his own iced mocha.

"I was merely going to forget a few encounters that have already left my mind."

"I see," said Jack, leaning back against his chair.

"You haven't answered my question, Spicer," said Chase. "I would have expected you to take much less time to complete your studies."

Jack shrugged. "I didn't want to take less time," he said. "I did everything as it was expected of anyone else. I wanted to take all the time I was supposed to take. I wanted to see how it would feel."

Chase nodded and took a sip of his tea. Jack stared at the way the light of the setting sun lit sparks of green in his long hair. After four years, Chase hadn't aged a single day. And neither had Jack's feelings for him, if the excited thumping of his heart was any indication.

He made a mental note to restart his studies on the mechanics of how to transplant his consciousness into a robot.

"So, why are you here?" asked Jack. "I know you've been around. It's a bit stalkerish, and now I'm worried."

"You don't seem so. You seemed more worried the first couple years," said Chase. The smell of him reached Jack's nose. Cinnamon, cardamom, and danger.

"That was really stalkerish. Seriously, stop before we get into any more fights. Believe me, I can put up a better fight now," said Jack. He felt a calm confidence that was comfortable but that he had never really paid attention to. It felt as if it had built up inside him, a little at a time, until it could sustain him before the greatest of the Heylin warriors.

"I know you can. I have, as you would put it, stalked you."

"Shit, Chase, come on. You've got to have better things to do that stalk me."

"You still lack focus. I compliment you and you retreat into your childish nervousness," said Chase, setting down his cup. "Does my presence still excite your boyish heart?"

That was more than Jack could take. He could deal with Chase's fist, but he couldn't deal with him stomping all over his feelings.

"I'm leaving," he said, grabbing his notebooks and standing up.

"You're not," said Chase, and Jack found himself sitting down again, held against the chair by an unseen force. "It's good to see your spirit's back, but I would like to continue our little conversation."

Jack swallowed the knot on his throat. He could call forth the miniature battle robots he always carried with him. And he also had his nanobots with him, so as he said, he could put up a good fight.

But they were in a fairly crowded cafeteria, and any battle would injure those around them. He checked for any exit nearby, but even though he was close to the window, there were a lot of people walking down the street outside. He looked back at Chase and found him smirking.

"I have not underestimated you Spicer. And you do not wish to engage me right now. I have less qualms about injuring civilians than you," he said.

"Sure you do," muttered Jack through gritted teeth. "What do you want now?"

"I just wanted to check on your progress," said Chase.

"My progress? Is that what I am to you? Some kind of experiment? Some kind of weapon?" asked Jack.

He had hoped. He had hoped so much that for some reason Chase had decided to _care_ for him. To care about feeling compassion for the fact that Jack had been at his lowest four years ago.

But of course his stupid heart had been too naïve once again. He was nothing more than a future Heylin weapon for Chase. And even that seemed too much to hope for.

Chase narrowed his eyes at him. "I have respect for you, Spicer," he said, his tone a warning in itself. "I don't have respect for weapons, nor experiments."

"I guess so," said Jack. "But still, why? All these years, I've wondered why you didn't kill me right there."

"You thought I would really kill you then?"

"I'm in no delusions about what you are, Chase," said Jack. He had expected to be ripped apart at any moment. Even years after, he still had nightmares about that night, when Chase's gift had turned out to be a slow and torturing death.

He had also had a different kind of nightmare, where Chase's gift had been soft touches and the taste of his lips.

He wasn't sure which dream was worse, and for once he was thankful for the real outcome of that night.

"About what I am? A monster you mean?"

"Hey, if you have a different term for giant warrior lizard, please do tell me," said Jack, trying to hide his fear.

Chase smirked. "How funny. You think I'm a monster ready to kill you, and yet I can hear your heart racing and you're even blushing. Very funny indeed," he said.

If Jack had been blushing, he could feel his face heating and turning completely red. "D-did you come here just to tease me about that?" he hissed.

"Not really. But I find it amusing enough to do it anyway," said Chase, the edge of his lip raising in a slight smile.

"Sounds like the battle against the Xiaolin has gotten far more boring lately," said Jack, letting himself relax against the chair.

There was a 90% possibility that Chase wasn't going to kill him, considering that he had come to see him at a place where Jack wouldn't be able to panic and lash out at him. All things considered, this had to be the most considerate thing Chase had done for him. Just showing up to chat. Even if he _was_ holding him down against his will by means of dark magic.

"When you're an immortal, time is of no matter at all," said Chase.

"Well, I wouldn't know about _that_. Being a silly mortal, you know?" said Jack, looking longingly at his coffee on the table. He felt the pressure over him fade. "Thanks, I was getting thirsty."

Chase looked out the window. "It's getting late," he said, and the full ridiculousness of their situation hit Jack completely.

Chase wasn't like this. There was something very wrong, and for once Jack couldn't put his finger on it.

Jack took a sip of his coffee. "Chase, what do you want?" he asked of the warlord, his voice a soft whisper. "It's not like you to be so indirect about things."

Chase looked back at him. "It's not, but it's also not like me do what I've come to do."

"If it's not kill me, just you being here is extremely unlike you. So come on, spit it out."

Chase chuckled. "Fine then. Do you still want to rule the world?"

"What? Seriously? Uhmmm…Uhmmm. Geez, what can I say?" said Jack. In truth he wasn't so sure anymore.

"If it's so hard to say anything, I think I have my answer," said Chase.

"It's not…I mean, I don't think I ever did. I don't think I ever fully comprehended what it meant. It just gave me something to look up to. Now…Now, after all these years, I've found that I want to understand it. If I understand the inner workings of the world, I can manipulate it," said Jack, thinking back to all the progress he had done in his research on energy transfer, robotics, and all kinds of sciences. He had even dabbled on medicine, and linguistics, making connections with his current experiments, and he had notebooks full of designs for robots and software that he wanted to try. It was as if the world was full of all kinds of knowledge that Jack was desperate to consume. He could consume all the knowledge in the world and then create more and more. "You wouldn't understand it. Hell, I don't think I'm even explaining it that well."

"I understand desire. And the desire for knowledge was always the most…redeeming part of you," said Chase, getting up. "I expected you to submit to me. Completely. I even thought of offering you the Lao Men Long soup, to keep you forever. But the temptation of having infinite time to pursue all the knowledge in the world might be too much for you. And I like your answer more than what I had hoped for."

Jack felt himself turning red again. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something, anything, but he was speechless.

_To keep you forever_

That might have been a love confession coming from Chase, and his mind had short circuited from the shock.

Chase smirked, and held Jack's jaw, pulling his face up to look at him. "You have…potential," he said, his thumb caressing Jack's cheek.

In Jack's dreams, he would kiss him. In Jack's dreams he would tell him that he wanted to keep him forever because he loved him. And then he would kiss him.

In reality, he let go of him and turned away. "I'll be around," he said, and disappeared amidst a cloud of black smoke, sending everyone in the cafeteria into a terrified panic.

But that was more than Jack needed. And far more than he had ever let his heart hope for.

He stood up on unsure legs, and looked out the window to the world outside.

It was his world, whether it knew that or not.

As he picked up his notebooks, he remembered his father's list that he always carried with him. He felt that, now, he would be able to cross off the last item.

Because he would finally go on, no matter what happened.

On his own.


	44. Chapter 44

And now, a few afterthoughts I have about this story.

Family Issues has a special place in my heart because I started working on it during a very hard period in my life. It was when my own parents were getting separated, and my siblings and I were going through our own personal crises on top of that. Mine being that I had been laid off my job and I was unsure of what would happen in my life, or if I would ever manage to do anything of my life.

I suppose that is the reason why I wanted this story to reflect Jack's journey into being an adult, and into being self sufficient. I wanted a character development for him that felt real. I feel like all too many fics skip on the growing part of him. It's easier to go "he gave up on Wu hunting and decided to grow up and do his own thing", and I suppose when the story you want to tell is something that happens after he has matured, that's a fair tactic.

But I wanted to see him grow. I wanted him to find the reasons to grow up and see the strength developing in him. Because there is a lot of pain in growing up. The pain in dealing with his mother's alcoholism, the pain of a distant father, the pain of his childhood ghosts. It is all stuff that we deal with in our way through life.

 _"_ _They aren't bad people, just bad parents."_ I think that is the spirit of the story. Jack's parents aren't bad people. They love him just as much as any parent loves their child. But they ARE bad parents. His father is distant and cold, constantly avoiding having to face how much his family was falling apart. It was only when he felt the pressure of his imminent death that he reached out to look for Jack, and try to find a way to steer him into a path that would help him grow.

His mother too hurt him with her love. In my language there is a saying that goes: "So much the devil loved his son, that he clawed off his son's eyes." Which is exactly what happened to Jack and his mom. She loves him completely, absolutely, overwhelmingly. She loves him so much that she doesn't realize how her love is asphyxiating him. And of course he loves her so much that he endures the pain he feels from her violent outbursts from her alcoholism, from her overprotection... Their relationship was full of love, and incredibly toxic. I think that's true for a lot of toxic relationships though. Sometimes a toxic person isn't someone out to hurt you, but someone hurting you despite how much they love you.

Sometimes we hurt those we love. Despite our best intentions, despite the truth of our love. It's a very harsh truth, not only when you realize the person you love is hurting you, but also when you are the one who inflicts the pain. There is a very knee jerk reaction when that happens. "I love them! I do this because it's the best for them!" always refusing to accept that overprotection is worse than letting people experience pain. Because we grow through pain. The pain of disappointment, the pain of loss, of fear, and despair. Strength grows in us every time we are defeated.

One aspect that I think I failed at, was Chase and Jack's relationship. They are my OTP and I really wanted them to smooch and hit it off, but it never felt like the right moment. Near the end I came to a point where I really wanted to push them together, but I felt like that would have been too forced and would have betrayed the spirit of the story. They had their own journeys, and their own monsters to fight.

Chase's relationship with his dead mother was one that I didn't really plan for (and I'm someone who does A LOT of planning for my stories) so seeing it developing organically in the story was a pleasant surprise. Especially because it developed in complete opposition to Jack's relationship with his mother. Chase's mother was the complete opposite to Jack's mom: a cold, detached figure that never managed to fix her relationship with Chase in life. And so, even in death, parents still manage to love their children. I don't know how true it is. But I feel it true myself.

There was a lovely comment by Harrison Orion Black that got me thinking a little about the events of this fic. It said the following: _"_ _I can see this is the path that lead him to one day becoming a ruthless businessman that no longer has time for 'childish adventures'. Or perhaps this is what happened in the timeline where he became the ruler of the world_ _"_

This story was an exploration of the pain that Jack goes through in his dysfunctional family. But it is also an exploration of how he grows through it. An exploration of how hard it is to take that pain and sadness and keep going. Of how growth in life comes from a lot of things going wrong. And of course I chose to take this story towards a happy ending, because that is the story I wanted to tell.

But maybe, in another universe, in another timeline, the events happened differently. Maybe, in another timeline, Jack's father overestimated the time he had left. Maybe he kept putting off going to see Jack and making sure he met the professor. Maybe he got caught up in the day to day toll of work. He thought he had more time than he did, and never wrote the letters. Never made sure there was someone there to guide Jack and his mom during the worst moments. In this timeline, Jack's mom had to deal with everything while Jack saw the meaninglessness of the showdowns, but had nothing else to cling to in life.

He might have defeated Chase in this timeline. Or maybe not yet. Maybe he stayed with his mother as she struggled to keep everything from falling apart, even though the cracks left on her heart from her husband's death deepened. Maybe he saw her drink more and more. Wasting away before his eyes. And in this timeline, he didn't have enough strength left to ask her to get help, and to hold everything together while she recovered.

Either way, in this timeline, he had to go through two funerals, and then come back to an empty house. Alone.

That does sound like enough to arrive to an episode known as "Time After Time: Part I", where Jack has conquered the world.

But that is not the story I wanted to tell.

Because even though we are not perfect…Most of the time we're not even good… And yet despite that, we still take good decisions sometimes.

And sometimes those decisions are enough for a happy ending.


End file.
